Study of a pts-gene-linked pleiotropic mutation influencing expression of catabolyte-sensitive genes of Escherichia coli K-12

Properties of the pleiotropic mutation pts17 are described. This mutation is liked to pts1 gene, which specifies the synthesis of the enzyme I of phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) in Escherichia coli K-12. Genetic analysis has shown that pts17 mutation is located between purC and pts1 markers and that the wild type allele pts17+ has transdominant character over the mutant allele pts17. The mutant strain J6217, isogenic to parent J62, shows normal growth properties in the minimal salt media with a number of carbohydrates used as a single carbon source. The pts17 mutations does not affect the enzyme I activity, but significantly suppresses the total PTS activity in the bacterial cell extracts. The intact mutant cells reveal the enhanced rate of accumulation and phosphorylation of alpha-methylglucoside. The pts17 bacteria show 3-fold enhanced phosphohydrolase activity with glucose-6-phosphate as substrate. It is established that pts17 mutation decreases the differential rate of the L-tryptophanase synthesis and makes the process of unductions resistant to glucose catabolite repression. It is suggested that this mutation affects the activity of the PTS factor III. One can suppose that the latter mediates the influence of ptsI and ptsH mutations upon the expression of catabolite-sensitive operons in E. coli.     

Comparative genomic analyses of the bacterial phosphotransferase system.

We report analyses of 202 fully sequenced genomes for homologues of known protein constituents of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS). These included 174 bacterial, 19 archaeal, and 9 eukaryotic genomes. Homologues of PTS proteins were not identified in archaea or eukaryotes, showing that the horizontal transfer of genes encoding PTS proteins has not occurred between the three domains of life. Of the 174 bacterial genomes (136 bacterial species) analyzed, 30 diverse species have no PTS homologues, and 29 species have cytoplasmic PTS phosphoryl transfer protein homologues but lack recognizable PTS permeases. These soluble homologues presumably function in regulation. The remaining 77 species possess all PTS proteins required for the transport and phosphorylation of at least one sugar via the PTS. Up to 3.2% of the genes in a bacterium encode PTS proteins. These homologues were analyzed for family association, range of protein types, domain organization, and organismal distribution. Different strains of a single bacterial species often possess strikingly different complements of PTS proteins. Types of PTS protein domain fusions were analyzed, showing that certain types of domain fusions are common, while others are rare or prohibited. Select PTS proteins were analyzed from different phylogenetic standpoints, showing that PTS protein phylogeny often differs from organismal phylogeny. The results document the frequent gain and loss of PTS protein-encoding genes and suggest that the lateral transfer of these genes within the bacterial domain has played an important role in bacterial evolution. Our studies provide insight into the development of complex multicomponent enzyme systems and lead to predictions regarding the types of protein-protein interactions that promote efficient PTS-mediated phosphoryl transfer.     

Comparative Genomic Analyses of the Bacterial Phosphotransferase System

We report analyses of 202 fully sequenced genomes for homologues of known protein constituents of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS). These included 174 bacterial, 19 archaeal, and 9 eukaryotic genomes. Homologues of PTS proteins were not identified in archaea or eukaryotes, showing that the horizontal transfer of genes encoding PTS proteins has not occurred between the three domains of life. Of the 174 bacterial genomes (136 bacterial species) analyzed, 30 diverse species have no PTS homologues, and 29 species have cytoplasmic PTS phosphoryl transfer protein homologues but lack recognizable PTS permeases. These soluble homologues presumably function in regulation. The remaining 77 species possess all PTS proteins required for the transport and phosphorylation of at least one sugar via the PTS. Up to 3.2% of the genes in a bacterium encode PTS proteins. These homologues were analyzed for family association, range of protein types, domain organization, and organismal distribution. Different strains of a single bacterial species often possess strikingly different complements of PTS proteins. Types of PTS protein domain fusions were analyzed, showing that certain types of domain fusions are common, while others are rare or prohibited. Select PTS proteins were analyzed from different phylogenetic standpoints, showing that PTS protein phylogeny often differs from organismal phylogeny. The results document the frequent gain and loss of PTS protein-encoding genes and suggest that the lateral transfer of these genes within the bacterial domain has played an important role in bacterial evolution. Our studies provide insight into the development of complex multicomponent enzyme systems and lead to predictions regarding the types of protein-protein interactions that promote efficient PTS-mediated phosphoryl transfer.     

Characterization and genetic mapping of fructose phosphotransferase mutations in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa transports and phosphorylates fructose via a phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent fructose phosphotransferase system (PTS). Mutant strains deficient in both PTS activity and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity were isolated and were used to select mannitol-utilizing revertant strains singly deficient in PTS activity. These mutants were unable to utilize fructose as a carbon source and failed to accumulate exogenously provided [14C]fructose, and crude cell extracts lacked phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent fructose PTS activity. Thus, the PTS was essential for the uptake and utilization of exogenously provided fructose by P. aeruginosa. Mutations at a locus designated pts, which resulted in a loss of PTS activity, exhibited 57% linkage to argF at 55 min on the chromosome in plasmid R68.45-mediated conjugational crosses. The pts mutations in four independently isolated mutant strains exhibited from 11 to 20% linkage to argF, and one of these mutations exhibited 3% linkage to lys-9015 in phage F116L-mediated transductional crosses.     

Genetic and biochemical characterization of the phosphoenolpyruvate:glucose/mannose phosphotransferase system of Streptococcus thermophilus

In most streptococci, glucose is transported by the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP):glucose/mannose phosphotransferase system (PTS) via HPr and IIAB(Man), two proteins involved in regulatory mechanisms. While most strains of Streptococcus thermophilus do not or poorly metabolize glucose, compelling evidence suggests that S. thermophilus possesses the genes that encode the glucose/mannose general and specific PTS proteins. The purposes of this study were to determine (i) whether these PTS genes are expressed, (ii) whether the PTS proteins encoded by these genes are able to transfer a phosphate group from PEP to glucose/mannose PTS substrates, and (iii) whether these proteins catalyze sugar transport. The pts operon is made up of the genes encoding HPr (ptsH) and enzyme I (EI) (ptsI), which are transcribed into a 0.6-kb ptsH mRNA and a 2.3-kb ptsHI mRNA. The specific glucose/mannose PTS proteins, IIAB(Man), IIC(Man), IID(Man), and the ManO protein, are encoded by manL, manM, manN, and manO, respectively, which make up the man operon. The man operon is transcribed into a single 3.5-kb mRNA. To assess the phosphotransfer competence of these PTS proteins, in vitro PEP-dependent phosphorylation experiments were conducted with purified HPr, EI, and IIAB(Man) as well as membrane fragments containing IIC(Man) and IID(Man). These PTS components efficiently transferred a phosphate group from PEP to glucose, mannose, 2-deoxyglucose, and (to a lesser extent) fructose, which are common streptococcal glucose/mannose PTS substrates. Whole cells were unable to catalyze the uptake of mannose and 2-deoxyglucose, demonstrating the inability of the S. thermophilus PTS proteins to operate as a proficient transport system. This inability to transport mannose and 2-deoxyglucose may be due to a defective IIC domain. We propose that in S. thermophilus, the general and specific glucose/mannose PTS proteins are not involved in glucose transport but might have regulatory functions associated with the phosphotransfer properties of HPr and IIAB(Man).     

Sugar transport by the bacterial phosphotransferase system. In vivo regulation of lactose transport in Escherichia coli by IIIGlc, a protein of the phosphoenolpyruvate:glycose phosphotransferase system

Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium preferentially utilize sugar substrates of the phosphoenol-pyruvate:glycose phosphotransferase system (PTS) when the growth medium also contains other sugars. This phenomenon, diauxic growth, is regulated by the crr gene, which encodes the PTS protein IIIGlc (Saffen, D.W., Presper, K.A., Doering, T.L., and Roseman, S. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 16241-16253). We have proposed that non-PTS permeases are regulated by their interaction with IIIGlc, and in vitro studies from other laboratories have provided support for this model, but the in vivo effects of excess IIIGlc are not known. In the present studies, transformed cells that overproduced IIIGlc 2- and 10-fold, respectively, were constructed from a pts+ strain of E. coli and plasmids containing the crr gene. In the 2-fold overproducer, fermentation of, and growth on the non-PTS carbohydrates glycerol, lactose, maltose, and melibiose was generally more sensitive to the glucose analogue methyl-alpha-D-glucopyranoside than in a control strain containing normal levels of IIIGlc. In addition, inhibition of lactose permease activity by methyl-alpha-glucoside (inducer exclusion) was more effective in the 2-fold overproducer than in the control strain, particularly when the permease activity was high. The 10-fold IIIGlc overproducing strain had a requirement for the amino acids methionine, isoleucine, leucine, and valine that may or may not be related to the increased concentration of IIIGlc. Fermentation of non-PTS carbohydrates was also poor in the latter strain. Finally, lactose permease activity was 50% of that in control cells containing the same levels of beta-galactosidase, and the lactose permease activity in the IIIGlc overproducer was reduced to an extremely low level in the presence of methyl alpha-glucoside. Thus there is an inverse relationship between the cellular concentration of IIIGlc and the ability to metabolize non-PTS substrates. The results are consistent with the model where inducer exclusion is affected by a direct interaction between IIIGlc and a non-PTS transport system.     

Acetate metabolism in Escherichia coli strains lacking phosphoenolpyruvate: carbohydrate phosphotransferase system; evidence of carbon recycling strategies and futile cycles

The ptsHIcrr operon was deleted from Escherichia coli wild-type JM101 to generate strain PB11 (PTS(-)). In a mutant derived from PB11 that partially recovered its growth capacity on glucose by an adaptive evolution process (PB12, PTS(-)Glc(+)), part of the phosphoenolpyruvate not used in glucose transport has been utilized for the synthesis of aromatic compounds. In this report, it is shown that on acetate as a carbon source, PB11 displayed a specific growth rate (mu) higher than PB12 (0.21 and 0.13 h(-1), respectively) while JM101 had a mu of 0.28 h(-1). To understand these growth differences on acetate, we compared the expression profiles of central metabolic genes by RT-PCR analysis. Obtained data revealed that some gluconeogenic genes were downregulated in both PTS(-) strains as compared to JM101, while most glycolytic genes were upregulated in PB12 in contrast to PB11 and JM101. Furthermore, inactivation of gluconeogenic genes, like ppsA, sfcA, and maeB,and poxB gene that codes for pyruvate oxidase, has differential impacts in the acetate metabolism of these strains. Results indicate that growth differences on acetate in the PTS(-) derivatives are due to potential carbon recycling strategies, mainly in PB11, and futile carbon cycles, especially in PB12.     

Functional dissection of the phosphotransferase system provides insight into the prevalence of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in the host intestinal environment

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is a dominant member of healthy human colon microbiota, regarded as a beneficial gut bacterium due to its ability to produce anti-inflammatory substances. However, little is known about how F. prausnitzii utilizes the nutrients present in the human gut, influencing its prevalence in the host intestinal environment. The phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP):carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) is a widely distributed and highly efficient carbohydrate transport system found in most bacterial species that catalyses the simultaneous phosphorylation and import of cognate carbohydrates; its components play physiological roles through interaction with other regulatory proteins. Here, we performed a systematic analysis of the 16 genes encoding putative PTS components (2 enzyme I, 2 HPr, and 12 enzyme II components) in F. prausnitzii A2-165. We identified the general PTS components responsible for the PEP-dependent phosphotransfer reaction and the sugar-specific PTS components involved in the transport of two carbohydrates, N-acetylglucosamine and fructose, among five enzyme II complexes. We suggest that the dissection of the functional PTS in F. prausnitzii may help to understand how this species outcompetes other bacterial species in the human intestine.     

Indirect role of adenylate cyclase and cyclic AMP in chemotaxis to phosphotransferase system carbohydrates in Escherichia coli K-12.

Most strains of Escherichia coli K-12 lacking the enzyme adenylate cyclase showed normal chemotaxis toward carbohydrates taken up and phosphorylated by the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent carbohydrate: phosphotransferase system. The normal reaction was observed even in the absence of externally added cyclic adenosine 3',5'-phosphate, provided that the enzyme II chemoreceptors and the flagella were synthesized. In the CA8306 series of strains, however, the cya-854 deletion abolished chemotaxis toward phosphotransferase system carbohydrates even though growth on and transport of these carbohydrates were not affected. This abnormal phenotype was due to the presence of a specific mutation in strain CA8306 which mapped in or close to the crp locus and apparently prevented expression of a hitherto unidentified molecule involved in enzyme II-mediated signal transduction. This molecule is neither a pts protein nor a cyclic adenosine 3',5'-phosphate-binding protein.     

Regulatory functions of serine-46-phosphorylated HPr in Lactococcus lactis

In most low-G+C gram-positive bacteria, the phosphoryl carrier protein HPr of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) becomes phosphorylated at Ser-46. This ATP-dependent reaction is catalyzed by the bifunctional HPr kinase/P-Ser-HPr phosphatase. We found that serine-phosphorylated HPr (P-Ser-HPr) of Lactococcus lactis participates not only in carbon catabolite repression of an operon encoding a beta-glucoside-specific EII and a 6-P-beta-glucosidase but also in inducer exclusion of the non-PTS carbohydrates maltose and ribose. In a wild-type strain, transport of these non-PTS carbohydrates is strongly inhibited by the presence of glucose, whereas in a ptsH1 mutant, in which Ser-46 of HPr is replaced with an alanine, glucose had lost its inhibitory effect. In vitro experiments carried out with L. lactis vesicles had suggested that P-Ser-HPr is also implicated in inducer expulsion of nonmetabolizable homologues of PTS sugars, such as methyl beta-D-thiogalactoside (TMG) and 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG). In vivo experiments with the ptsH1 mutant established that P-Ser-HPr is not necessary for inducer expulsion. Glucose-activated 2-DG expulsion occurred at similar rates in wild-type and ptsH1 mutant strains, whereas TMG expulsion was slowed in the ptsH1 mutant. It therefore seems that P-Ser-HPr is not essential for inducer expulsion but that in certain cases it can play an indirect role in this regulatory process.     

Deletion mapping of the genes coding for HPr and enzyme I of the phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system in Salmonella typhimurium

Sugars transported by a bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) require two soluble proteins: HPr, a low-molecular-weight phosphate-carrier protein, and enzyme I. The structural genes coding for HPr (ptsH) and Enzyme I (ptsI) are shown to be cotransducible in Salmonella typhimurium. The gene order of this region of the Salmonella chromosome is cysA-trzA-ptsH-ptsI...(crr). A method for the isolation of trzA-pts deletion is described. One class of pts deletions extends through ptsH and into ptsI; a second class includes both ptsH and ptsI and extends into or through the crr gene. The crr gene either codes for or regulates the synthesis of a third PTS protein (factor III) which is sugar-specific. A hypothesis is presented for a mechanism of deletion formation.     

Inducer exclusion in Escherichia coli by non-PTS substrates: the role of the PEP to pyruvate ratio in determining the phosphorylation state of enzyme IIAGlc

The main mechanism causing catabolite repression in Escherichia coli is the dephosphorylation of enzyme IIA^Glc, one of the enzymes of the phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS). The PTS is involved in the uptake of a large number of carbohydrates that are phosphorylated during transport, phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) being the phosphoryl donor. Dephosphorylation of enzyme IIA^Glc causes inhibition of uptake of a number of non-PTS carbon sources, a process called inducer exclusion. In this paper, we show that dephosphorylation of enzyme IIA^Glc is not only caused by the transport of PTS carbohydrates, as has always been thought, and that an additional mechanism causing dephosphorylation exists. Direct monitoring of the phosphorylation state of enzyme IIA^Glc also showed that many carbohydrates that are not transported by the PTS caused dephosphorylation during growth. In the case of glucose 6-phosphate, it was shown that transport and the first metabolic step are not involved in the dephosphorylation of enzyme IIA^Glc, but that later steps in the glycolysis are essential. Evidence is provided that the [PEP]–[pyruvate] ratio, the driving force for the phosphorylation of the PTS proteins, determines the phosphorylation state of enzyme IIA^Glc. The implications of these new findings for our view on catabolite repression and inducer exclusion are discussed.