Regulation of fatty acid degradation in Escherichia coli: isolation and characterization of strains bearing insertion and temperature-sensitive mutations in gene fadR.

Transposon Tn10 was used to mutagenize the fadR gene in Escherichia coli. Mutants bearing fadR:Tn10 insertion mutations were found to (i) utilize the noninducing fatty acid decanoate as sole carbon source, (ii) beta-oxidize fatty acids at constitutive rates, and (iii) contain constitutive levels of the five key beta-oxidative enzymes. These characteristics were identical to those observed in spontaneous fadR mutants. The constitutive phenotype presented by the fadR:Tn10 mutants was shown to be genetically linked to the associated transposon-encoded drug resistance. These results suggest that the fadR gene product exerts negative control over the fatty acid degradative regulon. The fadR gene of E. coli has been mapped through the use of transposon-mediated fadR insertion mutations. The fadR locus is at 25.5 min on the revised map and cotransduces with purB, hemA, and trp. Three-factor conjugational and transductional crosses indicate that the order of loci in this region of the chromosome is purB-fadR-hemA-trp. Spontaneous fadR mutants were found to map at the same location. Strains that exhibit alterations in the control of the fad regulon in response to changes in temperature were also isolated and characterized. These fadR(Ts) mutants were constitutive for the fad enzymes at elevated temperatures and inducible for these activities at low temperatures. The fadR(Ts) mutations also map at the fadR locus. These results strongly suggest that the fadR gene product is a repressor protein.     

Elevated levels of glyoxylate shunt enzymes in Escherichia coli strains constitutive for fatty acid degradation.

Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 constitutive for the synthesis of the enzymes of fatty acid degradation (fadR) have elevated levels of the glyoxylate shunt enzymes, isocitrate lyase and malate synthase. A temperature-sensitive fadR strain has high levels of glyoxylate shunt enzymes when grown at elevated temperatures but has low, inducible levels of glyoxylate shunt enzymes when grown at low temperatures. The increased activity of glyoxylate shunt enzymes did not appear to be due to the degradation of intracellular fatty acids in fadR strains or differences in allosteric effectors in fadR versus fadR+ strains. These studies suggest that the fadR gene product may be involved in the regulation of the glyoxylate operon.     

Role of gene fadR in Escherichia coli acetate metabolism.

Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 constitutive for fatty acid degradation (fadR) showed an increased rate of utilization of exogenous acetate. Acetate transport, oxidation, and incorporation into macromolecules was approximately fivefold greater in fadR mutants than fadR+ strains during growth on succinate as a carbon source. This effect was due to the elevated levels of glyoxylate shunt enzymes in fadR mutants, since (i) similar results were seen with mutants constitutive for the glyoxylate shunt enzymes (iclR), (ii) induction of the glyoxylate shunt in fadR+ strains by growth on acetate or oleate increased the rate of acetate utilization to levels comparable to those in fadR mutants, and (iii) fadR and fadR+ derivatives of mutants defective for the glyoxylate shunt enzymes showed equivalent rates of acetate utilization under these conditions. These results suggest that the operation of the glyoxylate shunt may play a significant role in the utilization of exogenous acetate by fadR mutants.     

Increased unsaturated fatty acid production associated with a suppressor of the fabA6(Ts) mutation in Escherichia coli.

Plasmids that corrected the temperature-sensitive unsaturated fatty acid auxotrophy of strain M6 [fabA6 (Ts)] were isolated from an Escherichia coli genomic library. Subcloning and physical mapping localized the new gene (called sfa for suppressor of fabA) at 1,070 kb on the E. coli chromosome. DNA sequencing revealed the presence of a 227-bp open reading frame which directed the synthesis of a peptide of approximately 8 kDa, which correlated with the correction of the fabA6(Ts) phenotype. However, the sfa gene was an allele-specific suppressor since plasmids harboring the sfa gene corrected the growth phenotype of fabA6(Ts) mutants but did not correct the growth of fabA2(Ts) or fabB15(Ts) unsaturated fatty acid auxotrophs. Overexpression of the sfa gene in fabA6(Ts) mutants restored unsaturated fatty acid content at 42 degrees C, and overexpression in wild-type cells resulted in a substantial increase in the unsaturated fatty acid content of the membrane. Thus, the suppression of the fabA6(Ts) mutation by sfa was attributed to its ability to increase the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids.     

Regulation of fatty acid degradation in Escherichia coli: fadR superrepressor mutants are unable to utilize fatty acids as the sole carbon source

Localized mutagenesis of the fadR region of the Escherichia coli chromosome resulted in the isolation of two classes of fadR regulatory mutants. The first class was constitutive for the fatty acid degradative enzymes and presumably defective for fadR function. The second class was rarer and resulted in the inability to utilize fatty acids as a sole carbon source (Fad-). These fadR superrepressor mutants [fadR(S)] had greatly reduced levels of the beta-oxidative enzymes required for growth on fatty acids. The fadR(S) mutants reverted to Fad+ at a high frequency (10(-5], and the resulting Fad+ revertants were constitutive for expression of the fad enzymes (fadR). Merodiploid analysis showed the fadR(S) allele to be dominant to both fadR+ and fadR alleles.     

Regulation of fatty acid degradation in Escherichia coli: dominance studies with strains merodiploid in gene fadR.

Strains stably merodiploid in the 25-min region of the chromosome of Escherichia coli were constructed and used in dominance tests between various wild-type and mutant alleles of the fadR gene. Whereas the monoploid fadR+ and fadR strains were inducible and constitutive, respectively, for the enzymes involved in fatty acid degradation (fad), merodiploids with at least one fadR+ allele were inducible. This observation was true whether the fadR+ allele resided on the main chromosome or on the episome. These results show that fadR+ is trans dominant to fadR, and they are consistent with the proposal that the fadR gene product is a repressor protein. Complementation tests were also performed by constructing 24 merodiploids harboring fadR alleles on both the main chromosome and the episome. All of these fadR/fadR diploids were able to utilize the noninducing substrate decanoate as sole carbon source, suggesting that only one polypeptide is encoded by the fadR gene.     

Role of fadR and atoC(Con) mutations in poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) synthesis in recombinant pha+ Escherichia coli.

Recombinant Escherichia coli fadR atoC(Con) mutants containing the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthesis genes from Alcaligenes eutrophus are able to incorporate significant levels of 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) into the copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) [P(3HB-co-3HV)]. We have used E. coli fadR (FadR is a negative regulator of fatty acid oxidation) and E. coli atoC(Con) (AtoC is a positive regulator of fatty acid uptake) mutants to demonstrate that either one of these mutations alone can facilitate copolymer synthesis but that 3HV levels in single mutant strains are much lower than in the fadR atoC(Con) strain. E. coli atoC(Con) mutants were used alone and in conjunction with atoA and atoD mutants to determine that the function of the atoC(Con) mutation is to increase the uptake of propionate and that this uptake is mediated, at least in part, by atoD+. Similarly, E. coli fadR mutants were used alone and in conjunction with fadA, fadB, and fadL mutants to show that the effect of the fadR mutation is dependent on fadB+ and fadA+ gene products. Strains that were mutant in the fadB or fadA locus were unable to complement a PHA biosynthesis pathway that was mutant at the phaA locus (thiolase), but a strain containing a fadR mutation and which was fadA+ fadB+ was able to complement the phaA mutation and incorporated 3HV into P(3HB-co-3HV) to a level of 29 mol%.     

Recombinant microorganisms as environmental biosensors: pollutants detection by Escherichia coli bearing fabA'::lux fusions.

A set of genetically engineered Escherichia coli strains was constructed, in which the promoter of the fabA gene is fused to Vibrio fischeri luxCDABE either in a multi-copy plasmid or as a single copy chromosomal integration. The fabA gene codes for beta-hydroxydecanoyl-ACP dehydrase, a key enzyme in the synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, and is induced when fatty acid biosynthesis pathways are interrupted. A dose-dependent and highly sensitive bioluminescent response to a variety of chemicals was controlled by the fadR gene. A tolC mutant E. coli host displayed generally lower detection threshold for toxicants. A chromosomal integration of a single copy of the fabA'::lux fusion led to a markedly lower background luminescence, but did not yield an improvement in overall performance. It is proposed that these or similarly constructed reporters of fatty acid biosynthesis inhibition may serve as novel microbial toxicity biosensors.     

Mutant of Escherichia coli Deficient in the Synthesis of cis-Vaccenic Acid

A temperature-sensitive unsaturated fatty acid (fabA) auxotroph of Escherichia coli was found also to be deficient in the elongation of palmitoleic acid to cis-vaccenic acid. Reversion and transductional analyses demonstrate that this second phenotype and the fabA mutation are independent in action and are not cotransduced. The deficiency in conversion of palmitoleic acid to cis-vaccenic acid was also demonstrated in vitro, and these results strongly suggest this phenotype is due to a deficiency in an elongation enzyme. We suggest that the phenotype may have been selected during growth because it can physiologically compensate for the fabA lesion. In fab(+) strains, the inability to synthesize cis-vaccenic acid is physiologically asymptomatic. Such strains grow normally at all temperatures tested and are not sodium sensitive. Although the parental strain has an increased amount of cis-vaccenic acid in cells grown at 15 C, the mutant does not. Since the mutant grows normally at 15 C, the data indicate that increased amounts of cis-vaccenic acid are not required for growth at 15 C.     

The beta-oxidation systems of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica are not functionally equivalent

Based on its genome sequence, the pathway of beta-oxidative fatty acid degradation in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2 has been thought to be identical to the well-characterized Escherichia coli K-12 system. We report that wild-type strains of S. enterica grow on decanoic acid, whereas wild-type E. coli strains cannot. Mutant strains (carrying fadR) of both organisms in which the genes of fatty acid degradation (fad) are expressed constitutively are readily isolated. The S. enterica fadR strains grow more rapidly than the wild-type strains on decanoic acid and also grow well on octanoic and hexanoic acids (which do not support growth of wild-type strains). By contrast, E. coli fadR strains grow well on decanoic acid but grow only exceedingly slowly on octanoic acid and fail to grow at all on hexanoic acid. The two wild-type organisms also differed in the ability to grow on oleic acid when FadR was overexpressed. Under these superrepression conditions, E. coli failed to grow, whereas S. enterica grew well. Exchange of the wild-type fadR genes between the two organisms showed this to be a property of S. enterica rather than of the FadR proteins per se. This difference in growth was attributed to S. enterica having higher cytosolic levels of the inducing ligands, long-chain acyl coenzyme As (acyl-CoAs). The most striking results were the differences in the compositions of CoA metabolites of strains grown with octanoic acid or oleic acid. S. enterica cleanly converted all of the acid to acetyl-CoA, whereas E. coli accumulated high levels of intermediate-chain-length products. Exchange of homologous genes between the two organisms showed that the S. enterica FadE and FadBA enzymes were responsible for the greater efficiency of beta-oxidation relative to that of E. coli.     

Mapping of the fabA Locus for Unsaturated Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Escherichia coli

fabA mutants of Escherichia coli require an appropriate unsaturated fatty acid for growth. The fabA locus has now been mapped at minute 21.5 of the linkage map of E. coli. The locus is cotransduced with pyrD and aroA but not with pyrC, purB, or pdxC. The clockwise order of markers in the region is pdxC, aroA, cmlB, pyrD, fabA, pyrC.     

Beta-hydroxydecanoyl thio ester dehydrase does not catalyze a rate-limiting step in Escherichia coli unsaturated fatty acid synthesis

The intracellular level of beta-hydroxydecanoyl thio ester dehydrase, the product of the fabA gene of Escherichia coli, was increased by isolation of a putative promotor mutant (termed fabAup) or by molecular cloning of the wild-type fabA gene into plasmid pBR322. The fabAup and plasmid-carrying strains overproduced dehydrase by about 15- and 10-fold, respectively. The phospholipids of all strains that overproduced the dehydrase contained significantly higher levels of saturated fatty acids than isogenic strains producing a normal level of dehydrase. No increased levels of unsaturated fatty acids were observed. This result indicates that, although the dehydrase is required for unsaturated fatty acid synthesis, the level of dehydrase activity in wild-type cells does not limit the rate of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis. The introduction of a plasmid carrying the structural gene for beta-ketoacyl acyl carrier protein synthase I into a fabAup strain overcame the effect of dehydrase overproduction on fatty acid composition.