Mutants of Serratia marcescens lacking cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity and requiring cyclic 3',5'-AMP for the utilization of various carbohydrates.

Adenine requiring mutants of Serratia marcescens SM-6-F'lac+ have been found to grow well in minimal-glucose medium solely supplemented with cAMP. From one of these ade strains double mutants (called ade cpd) were isolated which could no longer utilize cAMP but which still grew on 5'AMP. Dialyzed cell extracts (soluble fraction) of the double mutants, assayed for cAMP phosphodiesterase, were unable to hydrolyze cAMP whereas cell extracts of the parental strains yielded 5'AMP at a rate of 1.6-2.0 mumoles min-1 mg-1 protein. The loss of the phosphodiesterase activity in S. marcescens cpd W 1181 did not cause an accumulation of large amounts of cAMP as was found for the diesterase-negative mutant AB257pc-1 of Escherichia coli. The induced synthesis of beta-galactosidase in mutant cpd W 1181 showed about the same sensitivity to transient and permanent catabolite (glucose) repression as the corresponding cpd+ strain. Starting from S. marcescens cpd W 1182 three independent double mutants (called cpd cya) were isolated which required exogenous cAMP for utilizing various carbohydrates as carbon source, for motility and for the formation of extracellular lipase and the red pigment prodigiosine. The intracellular concentration of cAMP in these mutants, grown in nutrient broth, was 40-60% of that of the parental strain which is about 4 x 10(-4) M. However, the adenylate cyclase in cell extracts of the mutants W 1237 and W 1270 was like that of the corresponding cya+ strain (about 2 x 10(-2) mumoles min-1 mg-1 protein).     

Cyclic 3', 5'-adenosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase mutants of Salmonella typhimurium.

Positive selection procedures for mutants of Salmonella typhimurium lacking cyclic 3', 5'7-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) phosphodiesterase have been devised. The gene (cpd) coding for this enzyme has been located on the chromosome and shown to be 25% co-transducible with metC using phage P22. The mutants have been used to investigate the role of the enzyme in the control of genes whose expression is known to be dependent on cAMP. Significant alterations in the regulation of some but not others of these genes have been observed in these mutants. Mutants lacking the cAMP phosphodiesterase are more sensitive than their parents to a variety of antibiotics that appear to enter the cell through cAMP-dependent transport systems. They grow faster than the wild type on succinate-ammonia-salts, and glucose-proline-salts media and are inhibited by added cAMP on glucose, citrate, or glycerol-ammonia salts media whereas the wild type is unaffected. Neither the growth of Salmonella typhimurium on glycerol or citrate media nor the level of acid hexose phosphatase in the strain is affected by the loss of cAMP phosphodiesterase. In addition, the mutant strains are extremely sensitive to high levels of cAMP. Loss of the cAMP phosphodiesterase in strains unable to synthesize cAMP (adenyl cyclase negative) reduces by 10-fold the requirement for exogenous cAMP for expression of catabolite-sensitive phenotypes. These results suggest that through its control of cAMP levels in the cell the phosphodiesterase may be involved in the regulation of certain classes of catabolite-sensitive operaons and also in protecting the cell against high levels of cAMP.     

Properties of a Novel Pleiotropic Bacteriophage-Resistant Mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H

A phage-resistant mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H (Sm(R)), S. aureus 52A5, was previously shown to lack polymeric teichoic acid. This paper characterizes other phenotypic differences between the strains. In broth cultures the mutant cells grew more slowly, were larger, and formed much larger clumps than the parent strain. The clumps of cells appeared to be covalently linked and could only be separated by mild sonic energy-a process which yielded viable cells. Mutant and parent cells autolyzed at equal rates, whereas isolated cell walls of the mutant strain autolyzed faster than the wild type. Nevertheless, the specific activity of the autolytic enzyme in the wild type soluble fraction was much higher than in the mutant. In contrast to the parent, strain 52A5 failed to accumulate nucleotide-bound murein precursors when treated with penicillin. Mutant strains with these characteristics were repeatedly isolated both spontaneously and by chemical mutagenesis. Strain 52A5 was shown to be fully revertible. Thus, it appears to be a pleiotropic mutation, and the possible nature of the defect which causes these varied effects is discussed.     

Selection and study of a Candida molischiana mutant derepressed for β-glucosidase production

Abstract A mutant strain of Candida molischiana was selected. Analysis of the exocellular activity of Candida molischiana 35M5N grown on different carbon sources revealed that the biosynthesis of β-glucosidase is derepressed in this yeast strain. The strain is not a hyper-producer mutant. There were no observed differences in the endocellular and parietal activities of the wild and mutant strains. However, the mutant strain produced 35-fold more enzyme than the wild-type in the culture medium with glucose as carbon source. When glucose was used as carbon source, the mutant strain produced 90% more exocellular enzyme than when cellobiose was used as the carbon source.     

Biochemical characterization of a mutant asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase from Chinese hamster ovary cells

The biochemical and physical properties of asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase from wild type Chinese hamster ovary cells and a temperature sensitive mutant strain (lys 65a) are compared. The asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase in the mutant strain exhibits a greater temperature lability in vitro, a higher temperature-independent Km for asparagine, and a lower temperature-dependent catalytic capacity than the enzyme from the wild type strain. The mutant enzyme shows no differences in its molecular weight, its Km for tRNAAsn, or its ability to aminoacylate tRNAAsn isoacceptor species compared to the wild type enzyme. These observations, as well as the growth properties of the mutant cells as a function of temperature and exogenous asparagine concentrations, are consistent with their decreased ability to aminoacylate tRNAAsn in vivo.     

Constitutive mutants for dextransucrase from Leuconostoc mesenteroides NRRL B-512F

Constitutive mutants for dextransucrase were isolated from cells of Leuconostoc mesenteroides NRRL B-512F by treatment with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, growing on an agar plate containing glucose as a carbon source and overlaying a soft agar with sucrose and tetracycline. These mutants were able to produce the enzyme in a liquid media containing sugars other than sucrose, such as glucose, fructose and maltose, without simultaneous synthesis of dextran. The enzyme activity of one mutant strain, SH 3002, was 2- to 3-fold higher than that of the wild strain grown on sucrose. When the concentration of glucose in the medium was increased from 2 to 4%, a 1.7-fold increase of enzyme activity was obtained for the mutant, whereas only a slight increase of the activity was observed on sucrose for both the wild strain and the mutant.     

Increased photoproduction of hydrogen by non-autotrophic mutants of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata.

Non-autotrophic ( Aut -) mutants of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata B10 were tested for their efficiency of nitrogenase-mediated H2 production. Three of these mutants ( IR3 , IR4 and IR5 ) showed an increase stoichiometry of H2 production, mediated by nitrogenase, from certain organic substrates. For example, in a medium containing 7 mM-L-glutamate as nitrogen source, strain IR4 produced 10-20% more H2 than did the wild type with DL-lactate or L-malate as major carbon source, 20-50% more H2 with DL-malate, and up to 70% more with D-malate. Strain IR4 was deficient in 'uptake' hydrogenase activity as measured by H2-dependent reduction of Methylene Blue or Benzyl Viologen. However, this observation did not explain the increased efficiency of H2 production, since H2 uptake (H2 recycling) was undetectable in cells of the wild type. Instead, increased H2 production by the mutant appeared to be due to an improved conversion of organic substrates to H2 and CO2, presumably due to an altered carbon metabolism. The metabolism of D-malate by different strains was studied. An NAD+-dependent D-malic enzyme was synthesized constitutively by the wild type, and showed a Km for D-malate of 3 mM. The activity of this enzyme was approx. 50% higher in strain IR4 than in the wild type, and the mutant also grew twice as fast as the wild type with D-malate as sole carbon source.     

Regulation of cellulases and xylanases from a derepressed mutant of Cellulomonas flavigena growing on sugar-cane bagasse in continuous culture

When the wild type Cellulomonas flavigena was grown on glycerol, xylose or cellobiose, it produced basal levels of carboxymethyl-cellulase (CMCase), filter-paperase (FPase) and xylanase activities. By comparison, a catabolic derepressed mutant strain of the same organism produced markedly higher levels of these enzymes when grown on the same carbon sources. Sugar-cane bagasse induced both the wild type and the mutant strain to produce three- to eight-time higher levels of FPase and xylanase than was observed with xylose or cellobiose. Continuous culture was used to determine the minimal cellobiose or glucose concentrations that repress the enzyme synthesis in both strains. 2.5 g l(-1) glucose repressed FPase and xylanases from wild type, while 1.6 times more glucose was needed to repress the same activities in the PN-120 strain. In the same way, twofold more cellobiose was needed to reduce by 75% the CMCase and xylanase activities in the mutant compared to the wild type. The FPase in the presence of 4 g l(-1) cellobiose did not change in the same strain. Therefore, its derepressed and feedback resistant characters of PN-120 mutant are evident. On the other hand, isoelectrofocused crude extracts of mutant and wild strains induced by sugar-cane bagasse, did not show differences in protein patterns, however, the Schiffs staining was more intense in the PN-120 than in the wild strain. These results point out that the mutational treatment did not apparently change the extracellular proteins from mutant PN-120 and this could affect their regulation sites, since derepressed and feed-back resistant enzymes may be produced.     

Mutants of Escherichia coli defective in membrane phospholipid synthesis. Properties of wild type and Km defective sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase activities.

The sn-glycerol-3-phosphate (glycerol-P) acyltransferase, the first enzyme of membrane phospholipid synthesis in Escherichia coli, was investigated in a wild type and a mutant strain defective in this activity. The mutant strain, selected as a glycerol-P auxotroph, was previously shown to contain a glycerol-P acyltransferase activity with an apparent Km for glycerol-P 10 times higher than that of its parent or revertants. The membranous mutant glycerol-P acyltransferase but did not appear to be thermolabile in vivo. Revertants no longer requiring glycerol-P for growth, showed glycerol-P acyltransferase activity with thermolability properties similar to the wild type. The second phospholipid biosynthetic enzyme, 1-acylglycerol-P acyltransferase, was not thermolabile in membranes containing a thermolabile glycerol-P acyltransferase activity. The pH optimum for the mutant acyltransferase was over 1 pH unit higher than that of the parental activity. Further, the mutant and wild type glycerol-P acyltransferase differed in their response to magnesium chloride and potassium chloride. The palmitoyl-CoA dependence of the wild type and mutant glycerol-P acyltransferase activities were different. The mutant glycerol-P acyltransferase activity was inhibited greater than 90% by Triton X-100 under conditions where the wild type activity was not affected. These experiments provide novel information about the wild type glycerol-P acyltransferase activity of E. coli and provide six additional lines of evidence for the mutant character of the glycerol-P acyltransferase in the mutant strains.     

Pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway of Pseudomonas fluorescens

Pyrimidine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas fluorescens strain A126 was investigated. In this study, de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway mutant strains were isolated using both conventional mutagenesis and transposon mutagenesis. The resulting mutant strains were deficient for either aspartate transcarbamoylase, dihydroorotase or orotate phosphoribosyltransferase activity. Uracil, uridine or cytosine could support the growth of every mutant strain selected. In addition, the aspartate transcarbamoylase mutant strains could utilize orotic acid to sustain their growth while the orotidine-5'-monophosphate decarboxylase mutant strains grew slowly upon uridine 5'-monophosphate. The wild-type strain and the mutant strains were used to study possible regulation of de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis in P. fluorescens. Dihydroorotase specific activity more than doubled after the wild-type cells were grown in orotic acid relative to unsupplemented minimal-medium-grown cells. Starving the mutant strains of pyrimidines also influenced the levels of several de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway enzyme activities.     

Mutagenesis of the folC gene encoding folylpolyglutamate synthetase-dihydrofolate synthetase in Escherichia coli

The folC gene of Escherichia coli, cloned in a pUC19 vector, was mutagenized by progressive deletions from both the 5' and the 3' ends and by TAB linker insertion. A number of 5'-deleted genes, which had the initiator ATG codon removed, produced a truncated gene product, in reduced amounts, from a secondary initiation site. The most likely position of this site at a GTG codon located 35 codons downstream of the normal start site. This product could complement the folC mutation in E. coli strain SF4 as well as a strain deleted in the folC gene. The specific activity of extracts of the mutant enzyme are 4-16% that of the wild type enzyme for the folylpolyglutamate synthetase activity and 6-19% for the dihydrofolate synthetase activity. The relative amount of protein expressed by the mutant, compared to the wild type, in maxicells was comparable to the relative specific activity, suggesting that the kcat of the mutant enzyme is similar to that of the wild type. Mutants with up to 14 amino acids deleted from the carboxy terminal could still complement the folC deletion mutant. Seven out of ten linker insertions dispersed through the coding region of the gene showed complementation of the folC mutation in strain SF4 but none of these insertion mutants were able to complement the strain containing a deleted folC gene. None of the carboxy terminal or linker insertion mutants had a specific activity greater than 0.5% that of the wild type enzyme. The dihydrofolate synthetase and folylpolyglutamate synthetase activities behaved similarly in all mutants, both retaining a large fraction of the wild type activity in the amino terminal deletions and both being very low in the carboxy terminal deletions and linker insertion mutants. These studies are consistent with a single catalytic site for the two activities catalyzed by this enzyme.     

Methylglyoxal-mediated growth inhibition in an Escherichia coli cAMP receptor protein mutant

Under certain growth conditions, some strains of Escherichia coli accumulate toxic levels of methylglyoxal. This report characterizes a strain which synthesizes a mutant cAMP receptor protein in an adenylate cyclase deletion background. When cultured in glucose 6-phosphate minimal medium, this strain (222) was prematurely growth arrested due to methylglyoxal production; growth inhibition did not occur when the strain was grown in glucose minimal medium. A comparison of a variety of enzyme and cofactor levels in the related strains 222 (mutant) and 225 (wild-type) grown on either glucose or glucose 6-phosphate medium was carried out. The only difference found that might explain an increase in methylglyoxal accumulation was an elevated level of phosphofructokinase in strain 222 grown on glucose 6-phosphate. Since this enzyme activity probably limits hexose phosphate metabolism, it is suggested that growth inhibition in strain 222 may be due to increased production of triose phosphate, some of which is converted to methylglyoxal.     

Effect of cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate on the growth rate of Escherichia coli

Cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) inhibits the rate of Escherichia coli growth in media with glucose. When the exogenous nucleotide is added, the generation time and the lag phase become longer. These parameters decrease if cAMP is entirely absent from the cya- mutant as compared to the parent cya+ strain. The nucleotide exerts a low activity in media with glycerol. The action of cAMP is highly specific.     

Mannitol and Fructose Catabolic Pathways of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Carbohydrate-Negative Mutants and Pleiotropic Effects of Certain Enzyme Deficiencies

Mutant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO were isolated on the basis of their inability to utilize mannitol as sole carbon source for growth. Four linkage groups (I through IV) among these mutant strains were resolved by two-factor crosses using the general transducing phage F116, and the strains appeared to contain point mutations as evidenced by ability to give rise to spontaneous revertants with wild phenotype on mannitol minimal agar. Group I strains were affected only in ability to grow on mannitol; all were deficient in inducible mannitol dehydrogenase activity, and all but one were deficient in inducible mannitol transport activity. Fructokinase was induced in group I strains and in wild-type bacteria during growth in the presence of mannitol but not fructose, indicating the presence of a pathway specific for endogenously generated fructose. Cells grown on fructose contained phosphoenolpyruvate:fructose-1-phosphotransferase activity, and mannitol-grown cells contained a lower level of this activity. Group II mutants were deficient in constitutive phosphoglucoisomerase, failed to grow on mannitol, grew very slowly on glycerol and fructose, but grew normally on glucose and gluconate. Group III strains were deficient in both nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide- and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities that reside in a single enzyme species. 6-Phosphogluconate appeared to be the inductive effector for this enzyme, which was not required for aerobic growth on glucose or gluconate. A single mannitol-negative mutant in group IV also failed to grow on glycerol and glucose, but no biochemical lesion was identified.     

Production of novel oligosaccharide oxidase by wheat bran solid-state fermentation

A search for oxidases that catalyze the oxidation of oligosaccharides has resulted in the isolation of several soil-derived fungus strains which produced novel oligosaccharide oxidases with different substrate specificity on wheat bran solid culture. One of these oxidases produced by Acremonium strictum T1 strain has been characterized. This enzyme showed high reactivity toward maltose, lactose, cellobiose and maltooligosaccharides composed of up to seven glucose units, and was named as glucooligosaccharide oxidase based on its substrate specificity. Strain T1 was subjected to a strain improvement program, and an enzyme hyper-producing mutant strain T1-38 was selected. This mutant strain produced glucooligosaccharide oxidase 75 times higher than the wild type strain T1. When cultivated in a solid medium comprised of 1 part of wheat bran and 1 part of water (w/w), enzyme activity reached a maximum level of 6 units per g of culture medium after 4 days cultivation. Characteristics of the enzyme including the substrate specificity were compared with two other novel oligosaccharide oxidases isolated in this laboratory. Batch type conversion of lactose to lactobionic acid using crude enzyme was also discussed.     

Saccharomyces cerevisiae porphobilinogenase: some physical and kinetic properties

1. Properties of porphobilinogenase (PBGase), the enzyme complex converting porphobilinogen (PBG) into uroporphyrinogens, were studied in a wild strain, D273-10B and a mutant, B231, of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 2. A well-defined maximum of enzyme activity was observed for the mutant strain after 20 hr of growth; whilst the activity in the wild strain did not vary significantly during growth. 3. Neither PBG consumption nor uroporphyrinogen formation were modified by the presence of air either in the wild or in the mutant strain. 4. In both the wild and mutant strains uroporphyrinogen formation increased linearly with both protein concentration and incubation time. 5. The addition of a mixture of sodium and magnesium salts to the assay system inhibited the enzyme activity of both strains by 50% without modifying the isomer composition. 6. The same optimum pH (7.4) and mol. wt (50,000 +/- 5000) was found for the enzyme from both strains. 7. The enzyme from both the wild and mutant strains shows Michaelis-Menten kinetics when isolated from cells at either the exponential or the stationary phases of growth. Accumulation of porphyrins and delta-aminolevulinic acid occurring during the exponential phase in the mutant strain, did not modify the kinetics.     

Adaptation of Clostridium tyrobutyricum for enhanced tolerance to butyric acid in a fibrous-bed bioreactor

By immobilization in a fibrous-bed bioreactor (FBB), we succeeded in adapting and selecting an acid-tolerant strain of Clostridium tyrobutyricum that can produce high concentrations of butyrate from glucose and xylose. This mutant grew well under high butyrate concentrations (>30 g/L) and had better fermentative ability as compared to the wild-type strain used to seed the bioreactor. Kinetic analysis of butyrate inhibition on cell growth, acid-forming enzymes, and ATPase activity showed that the adapted cells from the FBB are physiologically different from the original wild type. Compared to the wild type, the adapted culture's maximum specific growth rate increased by 2.3-fold and its growth tolerance to butyrate inhibition increased by 29-fold. The key enzymes in the butyrate-forming pathway, phosphotransbutyrylase (PTB) and butyrate kinase (BK), were also more active in the mutant, with 175% higher PTB and 146% higher BK activities. Also, the mutant's ATPase was less sensitive to inhibition by butyric acid, as indicated by a 4-fold increase in the inhibition rate constant, and was more resistant to the enzyme inhibitor N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD). The lower ATPase sensitivity to butyrate inhibition might have contributed to the increased growth tolerance to butyrate inhibition, which also might be attributed to the higher percentage of saturated fatty acids in the membrane phospholipids (74% in the mutant vs 69% in the wild type). This study shows that cell immobilization in the FBB provides an effective means for in-process adaptation and selection of mutant with higher tolerance to inhibitory fermentation product.     

Mutant strains of Rhodopseudomonas spheroides which form photosynthetic pigments aerobically in the dark. Growth characteristics and enzymic activities

Mutant strains of Rhodopseudomonas spheroides have been isolated which contain 5–50 times more bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoids than the wild type when grown under highly aerobic conditions in the dark. Their pigment content is similar to the wild type when grown in the light. One of the mutants (TA-R) grew more slowly than its parent strain under aerobic conditions but formed pigments at about 60% of the rate observed under photosynthetic conditions. The other mutants grew at rates similar to the wild type under all conditions. Synthesis of bacteriochlorophyll by suspensions of the mutants began without delay upon transfer from conditions of high to low aeration. In contrast to the wild type, magnesium protoporphyrin-S-adenosylmethionine methyltransferase (EC 2.1.1.11) activity in particulate preparations from the mutants was not repressed by growth under aerobic conditions in the light or dark. Ribulose diphosphate carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.39) activity was repressed by O₂ in the mutants as in the wild type. Other enzyme activities were compared in mutant TA-R and its parent strain grown under the same conditions. NADH oxidase activity in particles from aerobically grown TA-R was about one third that found in the parent strain. However, the respiration rates of the intact cells did not differ. Light inhibited the respiration of aerobically grown TA-R, indicating that the bacteriochlorophyll formed under these conditions had photochemical activity. It is concluded that the insensitivity of the mutants to O₂ repression is due to defects in the regulatory system which controls formation of the enzymes concerned in pigment synthesis.     

Pyruvate Carboxylase Deficiency in Pleiotropic Carbohydrate-Negative Mutant Strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Cell extracts of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO were found to contain pyruvate carboxylase activity. Specific activities were minimal when cells were grown on Casamino Acids, acetate, or succinate, but were three- to fourfold higher when cells were grown in glucose, gluconate, glycerol, lactate, or pyruvate minimal media. The reaction in crude cell extracts and in partially purified preparations was dependent on pyruvate, adenosine 5'-triphosphate, and Mg(2+), but was not affected by either the presence or absence of acetyl coenzyme A. Activity was nearly totally inhibited by avidin and this inhibition was substantially blocked by free biotin in incubation mixtures. Cell extracts were shown to fix (14)CO(2) in a reaction that had these same characteristics. Eight pleiotropic, carbohydrate-negative mutant strains of the organism were isolated after nitrosoguanidine mutagenesis. Each mutant strain grew normally in acetate, succinate, and citrate minimal media but failed to utilize glucose, gluconate, 2-ketogluconate, mannitol, glycerol, lactate, and pyruvate as sole sources of carbon and energy. These strains were found by quantitative transductional analysis with phage F116 to form a single linkage group. Cell extracts of each mutant strain were either lacking or severely deficient in pyruvate carboxylase activity. Spontaneous revertants of five of the eight strains were isolated and found to recover simultaneously both pyruvate carboxylase activity and the ability to utilize each of the C(6) and C(3) compounds. A second linkage group of similar mutant strains that grew on the C(3) compounds was found to contain normal levels of pyruvate carboxylase activity, but each strain was deficient in an enzyme of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway.     

Autoregulation of lactose uptake through the LacY permease by enzyme IIAGlc of the PTS in Escherichia coli K-12

Bacterial growth on one or more carbon sources requires careful control of the uptake and metabolism of these carbon sources. In Escherichia coli, the phosphorylation state of enzyme IIAGlc of the phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) is involved in this control in two ways. The unphosphorylated form of IIAGlc causes 'inducer exclusion', the inhibition of uptake of a number of non-PTS carbon sources, including lactose uptake by the lactose permease. The phosphorylated form of enzyme IIAGlc probably activates adenylate cyclase. In cells growing on lactose, enzyme IIAGlc was approximately 50% dephosphorylated, suggesting that lactose could inhibit its own uptake. This inhibition could be demonstrated by comparing lactose uptake rates in the wild-type strain and in a mutant in which the lactose carrier was insensitive to inducer exclusion. In this deregulated mutant strain, lactose was consumed much faster, and large amounts of glucose were excreted. It was shown that enzyme IIAGlc was dephosphorylated more strongly and that the cAMP level was lower in the mutant, most probably causing the observed decrease in lac expression level. When the lac expression level in the mutant strain was increased to that of the parent strain by adding exogenous cAMP, growth on lactose was slower, suggesting that enzyme IIAGlc-mediated inhibition of lactose uptake and downregulation of the lac expression level protected the cells against excessive lactose influx. An even stronger increase in the lac expression level in a mutant lacking enzyme IIAGlc caused complete growth arrest. We conclude that the autoregulatory mechanism that controls lactose uptake is an important mechanism for the cells in adjusting the uptake rate to their metabolic capacity.