Bacillus subtilis acyl carrier protein is encoded in a cluster of lipid biosynthesis genes.

A cluster of Bacillus subtilis fatty acid synthetic genes was isolated by complementation of an Escherichia coli fabD mutant encoding a thermosensitive malonyl coenzyme A-acyl carrier protein transacylase. The B. subtilis genomic segment contains genes that encode three fatty acid synthetic proteins, malonyl coenzyme A-acyl carrier protein transacylase (fabD), 3-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (fabG), and the N-terminal 14 amino acid residues of acyl carrier protein (acpP). Also present is a sequence that encodes a homolog of E. coli plsX, a gene that plays a poorly understood role in phospholipid synthesis. The B. subtilis plsX gene weakly complemented an E. coli plsX mutant. The order of genes in the cluster is plsX fabD fabG acpP, the same order found in E. coli, except that in E. coli the fabH gene lies between plsX and fabD. The absence of fabH in the B. subtilis cluster is consistent with the different fatty acid compositions of the two organisms. The amino acid sequence of B. subtilis acyl carrier protein was obtained by sequencing the purified protein, and the sequence obtained strongly resembled that of E. coli acyl carrier protein, except that most of the protein retained the initiating methionine residue. The B. subtilis fab cluster was mapped to the 135 to 145 degrees region of the chromosome.     

Relationships between fatty acid and polyketide synthases from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2): characterization of the fatty acid synthase acyl carrier protein.

We have characterized an acyl carrier protein (ACP) presumed to be involved in the synthesis of fatty acids in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). This is the third ACP to have been identified in S. coelicolor; the two previously characterized ACPs are involved in the synthesis of two aromatic polyketides: the blue-pigmented antibiotic actinorhodin and a grey pigment associated with the spore walls. The three ACPs are clearly related. The presumed fatty acid synthase (FAS) ACP was partially purified, and the N-terminal amino acid sequence was obtained. The corresponding gene (acpP) was cloned and sequenced and found to lie within 1 kb of a previously characterized gene (fabD) encoding another subunit of the S. coelicolor FAS, malonyl coenzyme A:ACP acyl-transferase. Expression of S. coelicolor acpP in Escherichia coli yielded several different forms, whose masses corresponded to the active (holo) form of the protein carrying various acyl substituents. To test the mechanisms that normally prevent the FAS ACP from substituting for the actinorhodin ACP, acpP was cloned in place of actI-open reading frame 3 (encoding the actinorhodin ACP) to allow coexpression of acpP with the act polyketide synthase (PKS) genes. Pigmented polyketide production was observed, but only at a small fraction of its former level. This suggests that the FAS and PKS ACPs may be biochemically incompatible and that this could prevent functional complementation between the FAS and PKSs that potentially coexist within the same cells.     

Characterization of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa Fatty Acid Biosynthetic Gene Cluster: Purification of Acyl Carrier Protein (ACP) and Malonyl-Coenzyme A:ACP Transacylase (FabD)

A DNA fragment containing the Pseudomonas aeruginosa fabD (encoding malonyl-coenzyme A [CoA]:acyl carrier protein [ACP] transacylase), fabG (encoding beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase), acpP (encoding ACP), and fabF (encoding beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II) genes was cloned and sequenced. This fab gene cluster is delimited by the plsX (encoding a poorly understood enzyme of phospholipid metabolism) and pabC (encoding 4-amino-4-deoxychorismate lyase) genes; the fabF and pabC genes seem to be translationally coupled. The fabH gene (encoding beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase III), which in most gram-negative bacteria is located between plsX and fabD, is absent from this gene cluster. A chromosomal temperature-sensitive fabD mutant was obtained by site-directed mutagenesis that resulted in a W258Q change. A chromosomal fabF insertion mutant was generated, and the resulting mutant strain contained substantially reduced levels of cis-vaccenic acid. Multiple attempts aimed at disruption of the chromosomal fabG gene were unsuccessful. We purified FabD as a hexahistidine fusion protein (H6-FabD) and ACP in its native form via an ACP-intein-chitin binding domain fusion protein, using a novel expression and purification scheme that should be applicable to ACP from other bacteria. Matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization spectroscopy, native polyacrylamide electrophoresis, and amino-terminal sequencing revealed that (i) most of the purified ACP was properly modified with its 4'-phosphopantetheine functional group, (ii) it was not acylated, and (iii) the amino-terminal methionine was removed. In an in vitro system, purified ACP functioned as acyl acceptor and H(6)-FabD exhibited malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase activity.     

Isolation of Vibrio harveyi acyl carrier protein and the fabG, acpP, and fabF genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis.

We report the isolation of Vibrio harveyi acyl carrier protein (ACP) and cloning of a 3,973-bp region containing the fabG (encoding 3-ketoacyl-ACP reductase, 25.5 kDa), acpP (encoding ACP, 8.7 kDa), fabF (encoding 3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II, 43.1 kDa), and pabC (encoding aminodeoxychorismate lyase, 29.9 kDa) genes. Predicted amino acid sequences were, respectively, 78, 86, 76, and 35% identical to those of the corresponding Escherichia coli proteins. Five of the 11 sequence differences between V. harveyi and E. coli ACP were nonconservative amino acid differences concentrated in a loop region between helices I and II.     

Improving fatty acid production in Escherichia coli through the overexpression of malonyl coA-acyl carrier protein transacylase

The microbial biosynthesis of free fatty acid, which can be used as precursors for the production of fuels or chemicals from renewable carbon sources, has attracted significant attention in recent years. Free fatty acids can be produced by introducing an acyl-carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase (TE) gene into Escherichia coli. The first committed step of fatty acid biosynthesis is the conversion of acetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA by an adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent acetyl-CoA carboxylase followed by the conversion of malonyl-CoA to malonyl-ACP through the enzyme malonyl CoA-acyl carrier protein transacylase (MCT; FabD). The E. coli fabD gene encoding MCT has been cloned and studied. However, the effect of FabD overexpression in a fatty acid overproducing strain has not been examined. In this study, we examined the effect of FabD overexpression in a fatty acid overproducing strain carrying an acyl-ACP TE. Specifically, the effect of overexpressing a fabD gene from four different organisms on fatty acid production was compared. The strains carrying a fabD gene from E. coli, Streptomyces avermitilis MA-4680, or Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) improved the free fatty acid production; these three strains produced more free fatty acids, about 11% more, than the control strain. The strain carrying a fabD gene from Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824, however, produced similar quantities of free fatty acids as the control strain. In addition, the three FabD overexpressed strains also have higher fatty acid/glucose yields. The results suggested that FabD overexpression can be used to improve free fatty acid production by increasing the malonyl-ACP availability.     

Cloning, nucleotide sequence, and expression of the Escherichia coli fabD gene, encoding malonyl coenzyme A-acyl carrier protein transacylase.

The Escherichia coli fabD gene encoding malonyl coenzyme A-acyl carrier protein transacylase (MCT) was cloned by complementation of a thermosensitive E. coli fabD mutant (fabD89). Expression of the fabD gene in an appropriate E. coli expression vector resulted in an accumulation of the MCT protein of up to 10% of total soluble protein, which was accompanied by an approximately 1,000-fold increase in the MCT activity. DNA sequence analysis and expression studies revealed that the fabD gene is part of an operon consisting of at least three genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis. Comparison with available DNA and protein data bases suggest that a 3-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase and a ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein reductase gene are located immediately upstream and downstream, respectively, of fabD within this fab operon. Western immunoblot analysis with antiserum raised against wild-type E. coli MCT showed that the fabD89 allele encodes a polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 27,000 in addition to the normal MCT protein of 32,000. The nature of the temperature-sensitive fabD89 gene product is discussed.     

In vivo functional analyses of the type II acyl carrier proteins of fatty acid biosynthesis

Acyl carrier protein (ACP) is a key component of the fatty acid synthesis pathways of both type I and type II synthesis systems. A large number of structure-function studies of various type II ACPs have been reported, but all are in vitro studies that assayed function or interaction of mutant ACPs with various enzymes of fatty acid synthesis or transfer. Hence in these studies functional properties of various mutant ACPs were assayed with only a subset of the many ACP-interacting proteins, which may not give an accurate overall view of the function of these proteins in vivo. This is especially so because Escherichia coli ACP has been reported to interact with several proteins that have no known roles in lipid metabolism. We therefore tested a large number of mutant derivatives of E. coli ACP carrying single amino acid substitutions for their abilities to restore growth to an E. coli strain carrying a temperature-sensitive mutation in acpP, the gene that encodes ACP. Many of these mutant proteins had previously been tested in vitro thus providing data for comparison with our results. We found that several mutant ACPs containing substitutions of ACP residues reported previously to be required for ACP function in vitro support normal growth of the acpP mutant strain. However, several mutant proteins reported to be severely defective in vitro failed to support growth of the acpP strain in vivo (or supported only weak growth). A collection of ACPs from diverse bacteria and from three eukaryotic organelles was also tested. All of the bacterial ACPs tested restored growth to the E. coli acpP mutant strain except those from two related bacteria, Enterococcus faecalis and Lactococcus lactis. Only one of the three eukaryotic organellar ACPs allowed growth. Strikingly the ACP is that of the apicoplast of Plasmodium falciparum (the protozoan that causes malaria). The fact that an ACP from a such diverse organism can replace AcpP function in E. coli suggests that some of the protein-protein interactions detected for AcpP may be not be essential for growth of E. coli.     

Only one of the two annotated Lactococcus lactis fabG genes encodes a functional beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein reductase

The small genome of the Gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis IL1403 contains two genes that encode proteins annotated as homologues of Escherichia coli beta-hydroxyacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase. E. coli fabG encodes beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase, the enzyme responsible for the first reductive step of the fatty acid synthetic cycle. Both of the L. lactis genes are adjacent to (and predicted to be cotranscribed with) other genes that encode proteins having homology to known fatty acid synthetic enzymes. Such relationships have often been used to strengthen annotations based on sequence alignments. Annotation in the case of beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase is particularly problematic because the protein is a member of a vast protein family, the short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) family. The recent isolation of an E. coli fabG mutant strain encoding a conditionally active beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase allowed physiological and biochemical testing of the putative L. lactishomologues. We report that expression of only one of the two L. lactis proteins (that annotated as FabG1) allows growth of the E. coli fabG strain under nonpermissive conditions and restores in vitro fatty acid synthetic ability to extracts of the mutant strain. Therefore, like E. coli, L. lactis has a single beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase active with substrates of all fatty acid chain lengths. The second protein (annotated as FabG2), although inactive in fatty acid synthesis both in vivo and in vitro, was highly active in reduction of the model substrate, beta-ketobutyryl-CoA. As expected from work on the E. coli enzyme, the FabG1 beta-ketobutyryl-CoA reductase activity was inhibited by ACP (which blocks access to the active site) whereas the activity of FabG2 was unaffected by the presence of ACP. These results seem to be an example of a gene duplication event followed by divergence of one copy of the gene to encode a protein having a new function.     

Cloning and sequence analysis of putative type II fatty acid synthase genes from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arachis hypogaea</Emphasis> L.

The cultivated peanut is a valuable source of dietary oil and ranks fifth among the world oil crops. Plant fatty acid biosynthesis is catalysed by type II fatty acid synthase (FAS) in plastids and mitochondria. By constructing a full-length cDNA library derived from immature peanut seeds and homology-based cloning, candidate genes of acyl carrier protein (ACP), malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase, β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase (I, II, III), β-ketoacyl-ACP reductase, β-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydrase and enoyl-ACP reductase were isolated. Sequence alignments revealed that primary structures of type II FAS enzymes were highly conserved in higher plants and the catalytic residues were strictly conserved in Escherichia coli and higher plants. Homologue numbers of each type II FAS gene expressing in developing peanut seeds varied from 1 in KASII, KASIII and HD to 5 in ENR. The number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was quite different in each gene. Peanut type II FAS genes were predicted to target plastids except ACP2 and ACP3. The results suggested that peanut may contain two type II FAS systems in plastids and mitochondria. The type II FAS enzymes in higher plants may have similar functions as those in E. coli.     

Cloning, characterization, and high-level expression in Escherichia coli of the Saccharopolyspora erythraea gene encoding an acyl carrier protein potentially involved in fatty acid biosynthesis.

The erythromycin A-producing polyketide synthase from the gram-positive bacterium Saccharopolyspora erythraea (formerly Streptomyces erythraeus) has evident structural similarity to fatty acid synthases, particularly to the multifunctional fatty acid synthases found in eukaryotic cells. Fatty acid synthesis in S. erythraea has previously been proposed to involve a discrete acyl carrier protein (ACP), as in most prokaryotic fatty acid synthases. We have cloned and sequenced the structural gene for this ACP and find that it does encode a discrete small protein. The gene lies immediately adjacent to an open reading frame whose gene product shows sequence homology to known beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthases. A convenient expression system for the S. erythraea ACP was obtained by placing the gene in the expression vector pT7-7 in Escherichia coli. In this system the ACP was efficiently expressed at levels 10 to 20% of total cell protein. The recombinant ACP was active in promoting the synthesis of branched-chain acyl-ACP species by extracts of S. erythraea. Electrospray mass spectrometry is shown to be an excellent method for monitoring the efficiency of in vivo posttranslational modification of ACPs.     

Reconstitution of the FK228 biosynthetic pathway reveals cross talk between modular polyketide synthases and fatty acid synthase

Functional cross talk between fatty acid biosynthesis and secondary metabolism has been discovered in several cases in microorganisms; none of them, however, involves a modular biosynthetic enzyme. Previously, we reported a hybrid modular nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)-polyketide synthase (PKS) pathway for the biosynthesis of FK228 anticancer depsipeptide in Chromobacterium violaceum strain 968. This pathway contains two PKS modules on the DepBC enzymes that lack a functional acyltransferase (AT) domain, and no apparent AT-encoding gene exists within the gene cluster or its vicinity. We report here that, through reconstitution of the FK228 biosynthetic pathway in Escherichia coli cells, two essential genes, fabD1 and fabD2, both encoding a putative malonyl coenzyme A (CoA) acyltransferase component of the fatty acid synthase complex, are positively identified to be involved in FK228 biosynthesis. Either gene product appears sufficient to complement the AT-less PKS modules on DepBC for polyketide chain elongation. Concurrently, a gene (sfp) encoding a putative Sfp-type phosphopantetheinyltransferase was identified to be necessary for FK228 biosynthesis as well. Most interestingly, engineered E. coli strains carrying variable genetic components produced significant levels of FK228 under both aerobic and anaerobic cultivation conditions. Discovery of the trans complementation of modular PKSs by housekeeping ATs reveals natural product biosynthesis diversity. Moreover, demonstration of anaerobic production of FK228 by an engineered facultative bacterial strain validates our effort toward the engineering of novel tumor-targeting bioagents.     

Biochemical characterization of acyl carrier protein (AcpM) and malonyl-CoA:AcpM transacylase (mtFabD), two major components of Mycobacterium tuberculosis fatty acid synthase II

Malonyl coenzyme A (CoA)-acyl carrier protein (ACP) transacylase (MCAT) is an essential enzyme in the biosynthesis of fatty acids in all bacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. MCAT catalyzes the transacylation of malonate from malonyl-CoA to activated holo-ACP, to generate malonyl-ACP, which is an elongation substrate in fatty acid biosynthesis. To clarify the roles of the mycobacterial acyl carrier protein (AcpM) and MCAT in fatty acid and mycolic acid biosynthesis, we have cloned, expressed, and purified acpM and mtfabD (malonyl-CoA:AcpM transacylase) from M. tuberculosis. According to the culture conditions used, AcpM was produced in Escherichia coli in two or three different forms: apo-AcpM, holo-AcpM, and palmitoylated-AcpM, as revealed by electrospray mass spectrometry. The mtfabD gene encoding a putative MCAT was used to complement a thermosensitive E. coli fabD mutant. Expression and purification of mtFabD resulted in an active enzyme displaying strong MCAT activity in vitro. Enzymatic studies using different ACP substrates established that holo-AcpM constitutes the preferred substrate for mtFabD. In order to provide further insight into the structure-function relationship of mtFabD, different mutant proteins were generated. All mutations (Q9A, R116A, H194A, Q243A, S91T, and S91A) completely abrogated MCAT activity in vitro, thus underlining the importance of these residues in transacylation. The generation and characterization of the AcpM forms and mtFabD opens the way for further studies relating to fatty acid and mycolic acid biosynthesis to be explored in M. tuberculosis. Since a specific type of FabD is found in mycobacterial species, it represents an attractive new drug target waiting to be exploited.     

Mapping of the fabD locus for fatty acid biosynthesis in Escherichia coli.

fabD mutants of Escherichia coli contain a thermolabile malonyl-coenzyme A-acyl carrier protein transacylase which causes defective fatty acid synthesis and temperature-sensitive growth. By conjugation and P1 transduction the fabD locus has now been mapped at min 24, between pyrC and purB and close to cat. The order of sites is tentatively given as pyrC, cat, fabD, and purB, though the orientation of cat and fabD could be reversed. The possible relationship of fabD with another mutation lying in this region and also affecting acid synthesis is discussed. In the course of these studies we also confirmed the location of the fabA gene, determined that poaA lies between fabA and pyrC, and inadvertently found that the pyr mutation in strain AT3143 is probably pyrF and not pyrC.     

Purification and characterization of 3-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III from spinach. A condensing enzyme utilizing acetyl-coenzyme A to initiate fatty acid synthesis.

The 3-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) synthase III from spinach was purified to homogeneity by an eight-step procedure that included an ACP-affinity column. The size of the native enzyme was M(r) = 63,000 based on gel filtration, and its subunit size was M(r) = 40,500 based on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, suggesting that 3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase III may be a homodimer. The purified enzyme was highly specific for acetyl-CoA and malonyl-ACP. The Km for acetyl-CoA was 5 microM when assayed in the presence of 10 microM malonyl-CoA. Acetyl-, butyryl-, and hexanoyl-ACP would not substitute for acetyl-CoA as substrates. The specificity for acetyl-CoA suggested that the physiological function of 3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase is to catalyze the initial condensation reaction in fatty acid biosynthesis. The homogeneous 3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase was capable of catalyzing acetyl-CoA:ACP transacylation but at a rate about 90-fold slower than the condensation reaction with malonyl-ACP. The 3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase was inhibited 100% by 5 mM N-ethylmaleimide or 20 mM sodium arsenite.     

An analysis of the concentration change of intermediate metabolites by gene manipulation in fatty acid biosynthesis

In this report, concentration of malonic acid and acetic acid produced in Escherichia coli were investigated by the expression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase genes (accs) and a malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase gene (fabD). Both malonyl-CoA and acetyl-CoA are essential intermediate metabolites in the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway, and are reversibly transformed to malonic acid and acetic acid, respectively in the cell. Acetyl-CoA is converted to malonic-CoA by acetyl-CoA carboxylases (Accs), which are composed of 3 different subunits (AccA, AccB, and AccC), and the resulting malonyl-CoA is then converted to malonyl-[acp] by malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase (FabD). In this study, these genes were separately cloned, and the influences of overexpression of 4 different genes on the concentration of malonic acid and acetic acid were analyzed. Compared with the wild type E. coli, a recombinant strain containing 3 acc genes together showed a 41.03% enhanced malonic acid production, and a 4.29-fold increased ratio of malonic acid to acetic acid.     

Catalysis,specificity, and ACP docking site of Streptomyces coelicolor malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase

Malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase (MAT), the fabD gene product of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), participates in both fatty acid and polyketide synthesis pathways, transferring malonyl groups that are used as extender units in chain growth from malonyl-CoA to pathway-specific acyl carrier proteins (ACPs). Here, the 2.0 A structure reveals an invariant arginine bound to an acetate that mimics the malonyl carboxylate and helps define the extender unit binding site. Catalysis may only occur when the oxyanion hole is formed through substrate binding, preventing hydrolysis of the acyl-enzyme intermediate. Macromolecular docking simulations with actinorhodin ACP suggest that the majority of the ACP docking surface is formed by a helical flap. These results should help to engineer polyketide synthases (PKSs) that produce novel polyketides.     

The soluble acyl-acyl carrier protein synthetase of Vibrio harveyi B392 is a member of the medium chain acyl-CoA synthetase family

The gene encoding the unique soluble acyl-acyl carrier protein synthetase (AasS) of the bioluminescent Vibrio harveyi strain B392 has been isolated by expression cloning in Escherichia coli.This enzyme catalyzes the ATP-dependent acylation of the thiol of acyl carrier protein (ACP) with fatty acids with chain lengths from C4 to C18. The gene (called aasS) encodes a protein of 60 kDa, a hexahistidine-tagged version of which was readily expressed in E. coli and purified in large quantities. Surprisingly, the sequence of the encoded protein was significantly more similar to that of an acyl-CoA synthetase of the distantly related bacterium, Thermus thermophilus, than to that of the membrane-bound acyl-acyl carrier protein synthetase of E. coli, an enzyme that catalyzes the same reaction from a more closely related organism. Indeed, the AasS sequence can readily be modeled on the known crystal structures of the T. thermophilus acyl-CoA synthetase with remarkably high levels of conservation of the catalytic site residues. To test the possible role of AasS in the fatty aldehyde-dependent bioluminescence pathway of V. harveyi, the chromosomal aasS gene of the organism was disrupted by insertion of a kanamycin cassette by homologous recombination. The resulting aasS::kan strains retained low levels of acyl-acyl carrier protein synthetase consistent with prior indications of a second such activity in this bacterium. The mutant strains grew normally and had normal levels of bioluminescence but were deficient in the incorporation of exogenous octanoic acid into the cellular phospholipids of V. harveyi, particularly at low octanoate concentrations. These data indicate that AasS is responsible for a high-affinity and high-capacity uptake system that efficiently converts exogenous fatty acids into acyl-ACP species competent to enter the fatty acid biosynthetic cycle.     

A Streptomyces collinus thiolase with novel acetyl-CoA:acyl carrier protein transacylase activity

Acetyl-CoA:acyl carrier protein (ACP) transacylase (ACT) activity has been demonstrated for the 3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase III (KASIII) which initiates fatty acid biosynthesis in the type II dissociable fatty acid synthases of plants and bacteria. Several lines of evidence have indicated the possibility of ACT activity being associated with proteins other than KASIII. Using a crude extract of Streptomyces collinus, we have resolved from KASIII an additional protein with ACT activity and subsequently purified it 85-fold in five chromatographic steps. The 45 kDa protein was shown by gel filtration to have a molecular mass of 185 +/- 35 kDa, consistent with a homotetrameric structure for the native enzyme. The corresponding gene (fadA) was cloned and sequenced and shown to encode a protein with amino acid sequence homology to type II thiolases. The fadA was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the resulting recombinant FadA enzyme purified by metal chelate chromatography was shown to have both ACT and thiolase activities. Kinetic studies revealed that in an ACT assay FadA had a substrate specificity for a two-carbon acetyl-CoA substrate (K(m) 8.7 +/- 1.4 microM) but was able to use ACPs from both type II fatty acid and polyketide synthases (Streptomyces glaucescens FabC ACP, K(m) 10.7 +/- 1.4 microM; E. coli FabC ACP, K(m) 8.8 +/- 2 microM; FrenN ACP, K(m) 44 +/- 12 microM). In the thiolase assay kinetic analyses revealed similar K(m) values for binding of substrates acetoacetyl-CoA (K(m) 9.8 +/- 0.8 microM) and CoA (K(m) 10.9 +/- 1.8 microM). A Cys92Ser mutant of FadA possessed virtually unchanged K(m) values for acetoacetyl-CoA and CoA but had a greater than 99% decrease in k(cat) for the thiolase activity. No detectable ACT activity was observed for the Cys92Ser mutant, demonstrating that both activities are associated with FadA and likely involve formation of the same covalent acetyl-S-Cys enzyme intermediate. An ACT activity with ACP has not previously been observed for thiolases and in the case of the S. collinus FadA is significantly lower (k(cat) 3 min(-1)) than the thiolase activity of FadA (k(cat) 2170 min(-1)). The ACT activity of FadA is comparable to the KAS activity and significantly higher than the ACT activity, reported for a streptomycete KASIII.     

Gene-specific random mutagenesis of Escherichia coli in vivo: isolation of temperature-sensitive mutations in the acyl carrier protein of fatty acid synthesis

Acyl carrier proteins (ACPs) are very small acidic proteins that play a key role in fatty acid and complex lipid synthesis. Moreover, recent data indicate that the acyl carrier protein of Escherichia coli has a large protein interaction network that extends beyond lipid synthesis. Despite extensive efforts over many years, no temperature-sensitive mutants with mutations in the structural gene (acpP) that encodes ACP have been isolated. We report the isolation of three such mutants by a new approach that utilizes error-prone PCR mutagenesis, overlap extension PCR, and phage lambda Red-mediated homologous recombination and that should be generally applicable. These mutants plus other experiments demonstrate that ACP function is essential for the growth of E. coli. Each of the mutants was efficiently modified with the phosphopantetheinyl moiety essential for the function of ACP in lipid synthesis, and thus lack of function at the nonpermissive temperature cannot be attributed to a lack of prosthetic group attachment. All of the mutant proteins were largely stable at the nonpermissive temperature except the A68T/N73D mutant protein. Fatty acid synthesis in strains that carried the D38V or A68T/N73D mutations was inhibited upon a shift to the nonpermissive temperature and in the latter case declined to a small percentage of the rate of the wild-type strain.