Regulation of tyrosine and phenylalanine biosynthesis in Salmonella.

Several types of 4-fluorophenylalanine resistant mutants were isolated. In one type of mutant DAHP synthetase (tyr) and prephenate dehydrogenase were coordinately derepressed. The mutation was linked to aroF and tyrA and was cis- dominant by merodiploid analysis, thus confirming that it is an operator constitutive mutation (tyrOc). A second type of mutation showed highly elevated levels of tyrosine pathway enzymes which were not repressed by L-tyrosine. It was unlinked to tyrA and aroF, and was trans-recessive in merodiploids. These properties were attributed to a mutation in a regulator gene, tyrR (linked to pyr F), that resulted in altered or non-functional aporepressor. Hence tyrO, tyrA, and aroF constitute an operon regulated by tyrR. In a third type of mutation chorismate mutase P-prephenate dehydratase was highly elevated. It was not linked to pheA, was located in the 95--100 min region of the Salmonella chromosome, and was recessive to the wild type gene in merodiploids. A mutation was, therefore, indicated in a regulatory gene, pheR, which specified an aporepressor for regulating pheA. DAHP synthetase (phe), specified by aroG, was not regulated by pheR, but was derepressed in one of the tyrR mutants, suggesting that as in Escherichia coli tyrR may regulate DAHP synthetase(phe) and DAHP synthetase (tyr) with the same aporepressor. A novel mutation in chorismate mutase is described.     

Evidence that there are only two tRNA(Phe) genes in Escherichia coli.

pheV, one of the genes that code for tRNA(Phe), was deleted from the chromosome of a strain of Escherichia coli K-12. As a consequence of this mutation, expression of pheA, the gene for chorismate mutase P-prephenate dehydratase, the first enzyme in the terminal pathway of phenylalanine biosynthesis, was derepressed. Similar derepression of pheA has been reported in pheR mutants of E. coli K-12 (J. Gowrishankar and J. Pittard, J. Bacteriol. 150:1130-1137, 1982). Attempts to introduce a pheR mutation into the delta pheV strain failed under circumstances suggesting that this combination of mutations is lethal. Southern blot analysis of pheV+ and delta pheV strains indicated that there are only two tRNA(Phe) genes in E. coli. It is recommended that the names pheU and pheV be retained for these genes.     

Molecular cloning of pheR in Escherichia coli K-12.

The regulator gene pheR, which in Escherichia coli controls the expression of pheA, the structural gene for chorismate mutase P-prephenate dehydratase, was cloned on to multicopy plasmids directly from the E. coli chromosome; this was achieved with the aid of the tetracycline resistance transposon, Tn10, that had been inserted very close to the pheR gene. Subsequently, pheR was subcloned on a 1.1-kilobase-pair fragment on the plasmid vector pBR322; its position on the plasmid was localized by the method of gamma delta-mediated transpositional inactivation. The pheR gene product was identified in maxicells and found to be a protein of subunit molecular weight 19,000, suggesting that the coding segment of the gene is about 500 nucleotide pairs long.     

The pheR gene of Escherichia coli encodes tRNA(Phe), not a repressor protein

Nucleotide sequence analysis and transposon 5 (Tn5) insertional mutagenesis indicate that the Escherichia coli gene pheR encodes tRNA(Phe) and not a repressor protein as previously reported. The coding region of pheR is identical to that of three other cloned tRNA(Phe) genes, pheU, pheV, and pheW. Multicopy plasmids carrying pheR, like those carrying pheU, pheV, or pheW, complement a temperature-sensitive lesion in the gene for the alpha-subunit of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (pheS). The nucleotide sequences of the 5'-flanking DNA of pheR, pheU, and pheW are almost identical but are quite different from the same region of pheV. By comparison with pheV, which has two tandem promoters, pheR was found to have a single promoter. The expression of pheA (encoding chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase) in strains carrying the pheR374 allele was decreased to similar extents by multicopy plasmids containing either pheR or pheV. It is proposed that this decrease in pheA expression and the increase in expression of pheA previously reported for chromosomal pheR mutants are both mediated through the attenuation control mechanism that regulates pheA.     

Enzyme Alterations in Tyrosine and Phenylalanine Auxotrophs of Salmonella typhimurium

The enzyme activities specified by the tyrA and pheA genes were studied in wildtype strain Salmonella typhimurium and in phenylalanine and tyrosine auxotrophs. As in Aerobacter aerogenes and Escherichia coli, the wild-type enzymes of Salmonella catalyze two consecutive reactions: chorismate --> prephenate --> 4-hydroxy-phenylpyruvate (tyrA), and chorismate --> prephenate --> phenylpyruvate (pheA). A group of tyrA mutants capable of interallelic complementation had altered enzymes which retained chorismate mutase T activity but lacked prephenate dehydrogenase. Similarly, pheA mutants (in which interallelic complementation does not occur) had one group with altered enzymes which retained chorismate mutase P but lacked prephenate dehydratase. Tyrosine and phenylalanine auxotrophs outside of these categories showed loss of both activities of their respective bifunctional enzyme. TyrA mutants which had mutase T were considerably derepressed in this activity by tyrosine starvation and consequently excreted prephenate. A new and specific procedure was developed for assaying prephenate dehydrogenase activity.     

Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence of the Corynebacterium glutamicum pheA gene.

The pheA gene of Corynebacterium glutamicum encoding prephenate dehydratase was isolated from a gene bank constructed in C. glutamicum. The specific activity of prephenate dehydratase was increased six-fold in strains harboring the cloned gene. Genetic and structural evidence is presented which indicates that prephenate dehydratase and chorismate mutase were catalyzed by separate enzymes in this species. The C. glutamicum pheA gene, subcloned in both orientations with respect to the Escherichia coli vector pUC8, was able to complement an E. coli pheA auxotroph. The nucleotide sequence of the C. glutamicum pheA gene predicts a 315-residue protein product with a molecular weight of 33,740. The deduced protein product demonstrated sequence homology to the C-terminal two-thirds of the bifunctional E. coli enzyme chorismate mutase-P-prephenate dehydratase.     

Loss of allosteric control but retention of the bifunctional catalytic competence of a fusion protein formed by excision of 260 base pairs from the 3' terminus of pheA from Erwinia herbicola.

A bifunctional protein denoted as the P protein and encoded by pheA is widely present in purple gram-negative bacteria. This P protein carries catalytic domains that specify chorismate mutase (CM-P) and prephenate dehydratase. The instability of a recombinant plasmid carrying a pheA insert cloned from Erwinia herbicola resulted in a loss of 260 bp plus the TAA stop codon from the 3' terminus of pheA. The plasmid carrying the truncated pheA gene (denoted pheA*) was able to complement an Escherichia coli pheA auxotroph. pheA* was shown to be a chimera composed of the residual 5' part of pheA (901 bp) and a 5-bp fragment from the pUC18 vector. The new fusion protein (PheA*) retained both chorismate mutase and prephenate dehydratase activities. PheA* had a calculated subunit molecular weight of 33,574, in comparison to the 43,182-molecular-weight subunit size of PheA. The deletion did not affect the ability of PheA* to assume the native dimeric configuration of PheA. Both the CM-P and prephenate dehydratase components of PheA* were insensitive to L-phenylalanine inhibition, in contrast to the corresponding components of PheA. L-Phenylalanine protected both catalytic activities of PheA from thermal inactivation, and this protective effect of L-phenylalanine upon the PheA* activities was lost. PheA* was more stable than PheA to thermal inactivation; this was more pronounced for prephenate dehydratase than for CM-P. In the presence of dithiothreitol, the differential resistance of PheA* prephenate dehydratase to thermal inactivation was particularly striking.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Loss of allosteric control but retention of the bifunctional catalytic competence of a fusion protein formed by excision of 260 base pairs from the 3' terminus of pheA from Erwinia herbicola.

A bifunctional protein denoted as the P protein and encoded by pheA is widely present in purple gram-negative bacteria. This P protein carries catalytic domains that specify chorismate mutase (CM-P) and prephenate dehydratase. The instability of a recombinant plasmid carrying a pheA insert cloned from Erwinia herbicola resulted in a loss of 260 bp plus the TAA stop codon from the 3' terminus of pheA. The plasmid carrying the truncated pheA gene (denoted pheA*) was able to complement an Escherichia coli pheA auxotroph. pheA* was shown to be a chimera composed of the residual 5' part of pheA (901 bp) and a 5-bp fragment from the pUC18 vector. The new fusion protein (PheA*) retained both chorismate mutase and prephenate dehydratase activities. PheA* had a calculated subunit molecular weight of 33,574, in comparison to the 43,182-molecular-weight subunit size of PheA. The deletion did not affect the ability of PheA* to assume the native dimeric configuration of PheA. Both the CM-P and prephenate dehydratase components of PheA* were insensitive to L-phenylalanine inhibition, in contrast to the corresponding components of PheA. L-Phenylalanine protected both catalytic activities of PheA from thermal inactivation, and this protective effect of L-phenylalanine upon the PheA* activities was lost. PheA* was more stable than PheA to thermal inactivation; this was more pronounced for prephenate dehydratase than for CM-P. In the presence of dithiothreitol, the differential resistance of PheA* prephenate dehydratase to thermal inactivation was particularly striking.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Novel mutations in the pheA gene of Escherichia coli K-12 which result in highly feedback inhibition-resistant variants of chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase.

The bifunctional enzyme chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase (EC 5.4.99.5/4.2.1.51), which is encoded by the pheA gene of Escherichia coli K-12, is subject to strong feedback inhibition by L-phenylalanine. Inhibition of the prephenate dehydratase activity is almost complete at concentrations of L-phenylalanine greater than 1 mM. The pheA gene was cloned, and the promoter region was modified to enable constitutive expression of the gene on plasmid pJN302. As a preliminary to sequence analysis, a small DNA insertion at codon 338 of the pheA gene unexpectedly resulted in a partial loss of prephenate dehydratase feedback inhibition. Four other mutations in the pheA gene were identified following nitrous acid treatment of pJN302 and selection of E. coli transformants that were resistant to the toxic phenylalanine analog beta-2-thienylalanine. Each of the four mutations was located within codons 304 to 310 of the pheA gene and generated either a substitution or an in-frame deletion. The mutations led to activation of both enzymatic activities at low phenylalanine concentrations, and three of the resulting enzyme variants displayed almost complete resistance to feedback inhibition of prephenate dehydratase by phenylalanine concentrations up to 200 mM. In all four cases the mutations mapped in a region of the enzyme that has not been implicated previously in feedback inhibition sensitivity of the enzyme.     

Novel mutations in the pheA gene of Escherichia coli K-12 which result in highly feedback inhibition-resistant variants of chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase.

The bifunctional enzyme chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase (EC 5.4.99.5/4.2.1.51), which is encoded by the pheA gene of Escherichia coli K-12, is subject to strong feedback inhibition by L-phenylalanine. Inhibition of the prephenate dehydratase activity is almost complete at concentrations of L-phenylalanine greater than 1 mM. The pheA gene was cloned, and the promoter region was modified to enable constitutive expression of the gene on plasmid pJN302. As a preliminary to sequence analysis, a small DNA insertion at codon 338 of the pheA gene unexpectedly resulted in a partial loss of prephenate dehydratase feedback inhibition. Four other mutations in the pheA gene were identified following nitrous acid treatment of pJN302 and selection of E. coli transformants that were resistant to the toxic phenylalanine analog beta-2-thienylalanine. Each of the four mutations was located within codons 304 to 310 of the pheA gene and generated either a substitution or an in-frame deletion. The mutations led to activation of both enzymatic activities at low phenylalanine concentrations, and three of the resulting enzyme variants displayed almost complete resistance to feedback inhibition of prephenate dehydratase by phenylalanine concentrations up to 200 mM. In all four cases the mutations mapped in a region of the enzyme that has not been implicated previously in feedback inhibition sensitivity of the enzyme.     

Cloning, sequencing, and expression of the P-protein gene (pheA) of Pseudomonas stutzeri in Escherichia coli: implications for evolutionary relationships in phenylalanine biosynthesis

The pheA gene encoding the bifunctional P-protein (chorismate mutase:prephenate dehydratase) was cloned from Pseudomonas stutzeri and sequenced. This is the first gene of phenylalanine biosynthesis to be cloned and sequenced from Pseudomonas. The pheA gene was expressed in Escherichia coli, allowing complementation of an E. coli pheA auxotroph. The enzymic and physical properties of the P-protein from a recombinant E. coli auxotroph expressing the pheA gene were identical to those of the native enzyme from P. stutzeri. The nucleotide sequence of the P. stutzeri pheA gene was 1095 base pairs in length, predicting a 365-residue protein product with an Mr of 40,844. Codon usage in the P. stutzeri pheA gene was similar to that of Pseudomonas aeruginosa but unusual in that cytosine and guanine were used at nearly equal frequencies in the third codon position. The deduced P-protein product showed sequence homology with peptide sequences of the E. coli P-protein, the N-terminal portion of the E. coli T-protein (chorismate mutase:prephenate dehydrogenase), and the monofunctional prephenate dehydratases of Bacillus subtilis and Corynebacterium glutamicum. A narrow range of values (26-35%) for amino acid matches revealed by pairwise alignments of monofunctional and bifunctional proteins possessing activity for prephenate dehydratase suggests that extensive divergence has occurred between even the nearest phylogenetic lineages.     

大肠杆菌苯丙氨酸生物合成关键酶的串联表达

ａｒｏＧ基因编码的 ３－脱氧－２－阿拉伯庚酮糖－７－磷酸合成酶（ＤＡＨＰ　Ｓｙｎｔｈｅｔａｓｅ　ＤＳ）和 ｐｈｅＡ基因编码的分支酸变位酶／预苯酸脱水酶（Ｃｈｏｒｉｍａｔｅ ｍｕｔａｓｅ／ Ｐｒｅｐｈｅｎａｔｅ　ｄｅｈｙｄｒａｔａｓｅ,ＣＷ／ＰＤ）都是本丙氨酸合成途径中的关键酶,为了通过基因工程手段来增加本丙氨酸生物的产量,在利用高效的原核表达载体ｐＢＶ２２ ０对ｐｈｅＡ基因编码的ＣＭ／ ＰＤ 酶进行了表达的基础上,采用ＰＣＲ方法扩增了抗反馈抑制的ａｒｃＧ基因,进行克隆表达,并与ｐｈｅＡ基因串联,以ＰＲＰＬ－ａｒｏＧ－ＰＬ－ｐｈｅＡ的形式,实现了２种酶基因在大肠杆菌中的表达, ＳＤＳＰＡＧＥ 图谱显示了新增的４３ｋｕ及３５ｋｕ蛋白带,经酶活性测定ＤＳ、ＣＭ／ＰＤ酶的比活分别提高了 ４．６７倍、８０５／１０．７１倍。     

pheA (Rv3838c) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes an allosterically regulated monofunctional prephenate dehydratase that requires both catalytic and regulatory domains for optimum activity

Prephenate dehydratase (PDT) is a key regulatory enzyme in l-phenylalanine biosynthesis. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, expression of pheA, the gene encoding PDT, has been earlier reported to be iron-dependent (1, 2). We report that M. tuberculosis pheA is also regulated at the protein level by aromatic amino acids. All of the three aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan) are potent allosteric activators of M. tuberculosis PDT. We also provide in vitro evidence that M. tuberculosis PDT does not possess any chorismate mutase activity, which suggests that, unlike many other enteric bacteria (where PDT exists as a fusion protein with chorismate mutase), M. tuberculosis PDT is a monofunctional and a non-fusion protein. Finally, the biochemical and biophysical properties of the catalytic and regulatory domains (ACT domain) of M. tuberculosis PDT were studied to observe that, in the absence of the ACT domain, the enzyme not only loses its regulatory activity but also its catalytic activity. These novel results provide evidence for a monofunctional prephenate dehydratase enzyme from a pathogenic bacterium that exhibits extensive allosteric activation by aromatic amino acids and is absolutely dependent upon the presence of catalytic as well as the regulatory domains for optimum enzyme activity.     

Phenylalanine Biosynthesis in Escherichia coli K-12: Mutants Derepressed for Chorismate Mutase P-Prephenate Dehydratase

Mutants were isolated which are derepressed for the synthesis of chorismate mutase P-prephenate dehydratase. No other enzymes involved in the synthesis of phenylalanine are derepressed in these strains. These mutants are able to grow in concentrations of o- and p-fluorophenylalanine that inhibit the growth of AB3259, the strain from which they were derived. They also excrete phenylalanine. Genetic analysis shows that the mutations causing this derepression are closely linked to the structural gene for this enzyme (cotransduction frequency of 95% or more with pheA). The gene in which they occur has been designated pheO since this gene has all of the properties predicted for an operator gene controlling the pheA structural gene. Finally, the pheO mutant alleles have been shown to be dominant in diploids.     

外源基因pheA、aroG和tyrB在苯丙氨酸合成途径中的共表达

利用基因工程技术提高了短杆菌的苯丙氨酸合成途径中关键酶活性,大幅度地增加了生物合成苯丙氨酸的产时。首先采用聚合酶链反应（ＰＣＲ）从大肠杆菌的氟代苯丙氨酸抗性变异菌株基因组中扩增到与苯丙氨酸合成相关的ａｒｏＧ,ｐｈｅＡ和ｔｙｒＢ３个基因。ａｒｏＧ编码３－脱氧－２－阿拉伯庚酮糖－７－磷酸合成酶（ＤＳ）,ｐｈｅＡ编码双功能酶蛋白－分枝酸变位酶（ＣＭ）和预苯酸脱水酶（ＰＤ）,ｔｙｒＢ编码转氨酶（ＡＴ）。设     

A kinetic and structural comparison of chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase from mutant strains of Escherichia coli K12 defective in the PheA gene

Three classes of mutant strains of Escherichia coli K12 defective in pheA, the gene coding for chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase, have been isolated: (1) those lacking prephenate dehydratase activity, (2) those lacking chorismate mutase activity, and (3) those lacking both activities. Chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase from the second class of mutants was less sensitive to inhibition by phenylalanine than wild-type enzyme and, along with the defective enzyme from the third class of mutants, could not be purified by affinity chromatography on Sepharosyl-phenylalanine. Pure chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase protein was prepared from two strains belonging to the first class. The chorismate mutase activity of these enzymes is kinetically similar to that of the wild-type enzyme except for a two- to threefold increase in both the K_a for chorismate and the K_is for inhibition by prephenate. In both cases only one change in the tryptic fingerprint was detected, resulting from a substitution of the threonine residue in the peptide Gln·Asn·Phe·Thr·Arg. This suggests that this residue is catalytically or structurally essential for the dehydratase activity.     

Phenylalanine and tyrosine biosynthesis in Escherichia coli K-12: mutants derepressed for 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonic acid 7-phosphate synthetase (phe), 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonic acid 7-phosphate synthetase (tyr), chorismate mutase T-prephenate dehydrogenase, and transaminase A

Mutant strains of Escherichia coli have been isolated in which the synthesis of 3-deoxy-d-arabinoheptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (DAHP) synthetase (phe) is derepressed, in addition to those enzymes of tyrosine biosynthesis previously shown to be controlled by the gene tyrR. The major enzyme of the terminal pathway of phenylalanine biosynthesis chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydratase is not derepressed in these strains. Genetic analysis of the mutants shows that the mutation or mutations causing derepression map close to previously reported tyrR mutations. A study of one of the mutations has shown it to be recessive to the wild-type allele in a diploid strain. It is proposed that the tyrR gene product is involved in the regulation of the synthesis of DAHP synthetase (phe) as well as the synthesis of DAHP synthetase (tyr), chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase, and transaminase A.