Cloning of the trp gene cluster from a tryptophan-hyperproducing strain of Corynebacterium glutamicum: identification of a mutation in the trp leader sequence.

Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 21850 produces up to 5 g of extracellular L-tryptophan per liter in broth culture and displays resistance to several synthetic analogs of aromatic amino acids. Here we report the cloning of the tryptophan biosynthesis (trp) gene cluster of this strain on a 14.5-kb BamHI fragment. Subcloning and complementation of Escherichia coli trp auxotrophs revealed that as in Brevibacterium lactofermentum, the C. glutamicum trp genes are clustered in an operon in the order trpE, trpD, trpC, trpB, trpA. The cloned fragment also confers increased resistance to the analogs 5-methyltryptophan and 6-fluorotryptophan on E. coli. The sequence of the ATCC 21850 trpE gene revealed no significant changes when compared to the trpE sequence of a wild-type strain reported previously. However, analysis of the promoter-regulatory region revealed a nonsense (TGG-to-TGA) mutation in the third of three tandem Trp codons present within a trp leader gene. Polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing of the corresponding region confirmed the absence of this mutation in the wild-type strain. RNA secondary-structure predictions and sequence similarities to the E. coli trp attenuator suggest that this mutation results in a constitutive antitermination response.     

北京棒杆菌邻氨基苯甲酸合成酶基因的克隆、序列分析及表达

以北京棒杆菌(Corynebacterium pekinense)野生株AS1.299和突变株PD-67的基因组为模板,用PCR方法扩增了邻氨基苯甲酸合成酶(AS)基因(trpEG)片段和前端控制序列。核酸序列分析结果表明,该片段全长3374bp,包含3个ORF,推测分别为前导肽基因trpL、AS componentⅠ基因trpE和AS componentⅡ基因trpG。C.pekinense野生株AS1.299与突变株PD-67相比较,trpL基因完全一样;trpE基因有6个碱基的突变,导致了5个氨基酸残基的改变;trpG基因有1个碱基的突变,导致了1个氨基酸残基的改变;同时它们在-35序列处还有一个A→G的突变。通过同源性比较发现,C.pekinense AS1.299与Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC13032和Brevibacterium lactofermentum的亲缘关系是很近的。trpL基因上游存在启动子区域,并能被Escherichiacoli的RNA聚合酶所识别,实现异源互补。野生型和突变型AS基因在C.pekinense AS1.299和PD-67中都得到表达,并且重组菌相对于宿主菌的酶活都有了很大提高。摇瓶发酵实验结果表明,带有突变型AS基因的PD-67重组菌生长比较慢,稳定期比PD-67推迟24h,但产生的L-色氨酸比PD-67高22.39%。     

Improved electrotransformation frequencies of Corynebacterium glutamicum using cell-surface mutants

The electrotransformation efficiency for homologously- and heterologously-derived plasmid DNA was determined for two families of Corynebacterium glutamicum strains derived from ATCC13059 (AS019 and auxotrophic, cell surface mutants MLB133 and MLB194) and ATCC13032 (parent strain and restriction-minus mutants RM3 and RM4), following their growth in LBG supplemented with glycine plus isonicotinic acid hydrazide (INH). Electrotransformation efficiencies of MLB133 were up to 100-fold higher than for strain ASO19 and, when using heterologously-derived plasmid DNA, MLB133 showed efficiencies comparable to or better than strains RM3 and RM4, demonstrating the relative importance of cell surface structures in impeding DNA uptake in C. glutamicum. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of cell surface structures showed that strain MLB133 has a thin cell wall relative to AS019 and growth in either glycine or INH further diminished its thickness. Both RM3 and RM4 were more sensitive to INH than ATCC13032 and growth in glycine plus INH further improved transformation efficiency. The mycolic acid composition of these strains is described and the impact of glycine and INH on this is reported.     

Characterization of mutations in the penicillinase operon of Staphylococcus aureus

Summary Mutant penicillinase plasmids, in which penicillinase synthesis is not inducible by penicillin or a penicillin analogue, were examined by biochemical and genetic analyses. In five of the six mutants tested, penicillinase synthesis could be induced by growth in the presence of 5-methyltryptophan. It is known that the tryptophan analogue 5-methyltryptophan is readily incorporated into protein by S. aureus and that staphylococcal penicillinase lacks tryptophan. 5-methyltryptophan seems to induce penicillinase synthesis in wild-type plasmids by becoming incorporated into the repressor and thereby inactivating the operator binding function of the penicillinase repressor. Therefore, induction of penicillinase synthesis in the mutant plasmids by 5-methyltryptophan strongly suggests that the noninducible phenotype of these five plasmids is due to a mutation that inactivates the effector binding site of the penicillinase repressor (i.e., the five mutant plasmids carry an i^s genotype for the penicillinase repressor). This conclusion was supported by heterodiploid analysis. The mutant plasmid that did not respond to 5-methyltryptophan either produces an exceedingly low basal level of penicillinase or does not produce active enzyme. This plasmid seems to carry a mutation in the penicillinase structural gene or in the promoter for the structural gene. Thus, a genetic characterization of many mutations in the penicillinase operon can be accomplished easily and rapidly by biochemical analysis.Journal Paper No. J-7994 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 2029     

Identification of an anion-specific channel in the cell wall of the Gram-positive bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum

A cation-selective channel (porin), designated PorA, facilitates the passage of hydrophilic solutes across the cell wall of the mycolic acid-containing actinomycete Corynebacterium glutamicum. Biochemical and electrophysiological investigations of the cell wall of the mutant strain revealed the presence of an alternative channel-forming protein. This porin was purified to homogeneity and studied in lipid bilayer membranes. It forms small anion-selective channels with a diameter of about 1.4 nm and an average single-channel conductance of about 700 pS in 1 M KCl. The PorBCglut channel could be blocked by citrate in a dose-dependent manner. This result was in agreement with growth experiments in citrate as sole carbon source where growth in citrate was impaired as compared with growth in other carbon sources. The PorBCglut protein was partially sequenced and based on the resulting amino acid sequence of the corresponding gene, which was designated as porB, was identified as an unannotated 381 bp long open reading frame (ORF) in the published genome sequence of C. glutamicum ATCC13032. PorBCglut contains 126 amino acids with an N-terminal extension of 27 amino acids. One hundred and thirty-eight base pairs downstream of porB, we found an ORF that codes for a protein with about 30% identity to PorBCglut, which was named PorCCglut. The arrangement of porB and porC on the chromosome suggested that both genes belong to the same cluster. RT-PCR from overlapping regions between genes from wild-type C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 and its ATCC 13032DeltaporA mutant demonstrated that this is the case and that porB and porC are cotranscribed. The gene products PorBCglut and PorCCglut represent obviously other permeability pathways for the transport of hydrophilic compounds through the cell wall of C. glutamicum.     

Tryptophan of facultative methylotrophic bacteria Pseudomonas sp. M. II. Regulation of tryptophan biosynthesis

Regulation of tryptophan biosynthesis of facultative methylotrophic Pseudomonas sp. M was studied. Repression of the trpE, trpD and trpC genes by tryptophan was demonstrated. It was also shown that the trpE and trpDC genes are derepressed noncoordinately. No regulation of the trpF gene product could be demonstrated, indicating that its synthesis is constitutive. The trpA and trpB genes are inducible by indol-3-glycerophosphate. Anthranilate synthase and tryptophan synthase were sensitive to the feedback inhibition. The tryptophan concentrations giving 50% inhibition were estimated to be 9 microM and 1 microM, respectively. Experimental evidence for activation of the N-5-phosphoribosyl anthranilate isomerase and for inhibition of the indol-3-glycerophosphate synthase by some tryptophan intermediates was obtained.     

Mechanism of 3-Methylanthranilic Acid Derepression of the Tryptophan Operon in Escherichia coli

3-Methylanthranilic acid (3MA) inhibits growth and causes derepression of the tryptophan biosynthetic enzymes in wild-type strains of Escherichia coli. Previous reports attributed this effect to an inhibition of the conversion of 1-(o-carboxyphenylamino)-1-deoxyribulose 5-phosphate to indole-3-glycerol phosphate and a consequent reduction in the concentration of endogenous tryptophan. Our studies have shown that 3MA-resistant mutants linked to the tryptophan operon have a feedback-resistant anthranilate synthetase; mutants with an altered indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthetase were not found. 3MA or 7-methylindole can be metabolized to 7-methyltryptophan, and 3MA, 7-methylindole, and 7-methyltryptophan lead to derepression of the tryptophan operon. Furthermore, 3MA-resistant mutants are also resistant to 7-methylindole derepression. These results strongly suggest that the primary cause of derepression by 3MA is through its conversion to 7-methyltryptophan, which can inhibit anthranilate synthetase, thereby decreasing the concentration of endogenous tryptophan. Unlike 5- or 6-methyltryptophan, 7-methyltryptophan does not appear to function as an active corepressor.     

Tryptophan biosynthesis in Salmonella typhimurium: location in trpB of a genetic difference between strains LT2 and LT7.

Salmonella typhimurium prototrophs carrying a trpR mutation synthesize tryptophan biosynthetic enzymes constitutively. When feedback inhibition of anthranilate synthetase but not 5'-phosphoribosylpyrophosphate phosphoribosyltransferase activity was by-passed by growing cells on media supplemented with anthranilic acid, all trpR prototrophs overproduced and excreted tryptophan. However, the rate of tryptophan production depended on both the ancestry of the trpR strain and the integrity of its trpA gene. Prototrophs with trp genes derived from S. typhimurium strain LT2 produced tryptophan more efficiently than those with trp genes derived from strain LT7. This strain difference was cryptic insofar as it did not affect the growth rate; it was revealed only as a rate-limiting step in the constitutive biosynthesis of tryptophan in the presence of anthranilic acid, and was due to a lesion in the LT7-derived trpB gene. Strains with LT7-derived trp genes bearing a deletion in trpA produced tryptophan as readily as LT2 trpR prototrophs. This indicated that LT7-specific 5-phosphoribosylpyrophosphate phosphoribosyltransferase must be aggregated with the trpA gene produce to give an observable reduction of constitutive tryptophan production. The discovery of this strain difference has particular implications for studies involving the activities of trpA and B genes and their products in S. typhimurium and may have general significance for other studies involving different strains of Salmonella.     

Mutations in the Corynebacterium glutamicum proline biosynthetic pathway: a natural bypass of th proA step.

Two chromosomal loci containing the Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 17965 proB and proC genes were isolated by complementation of Escherichia coli proB and proC auxotrophic mutants. Together with a proA gene described earlier, these new genes describe the major C. glutamicum proline biosynthetic pathway. The proB and proA genes, closely linked in most bacteria, are in C. glutamicum separated by a 304-amino-acid open reading frame (unk) whose predicted sequence resembles that of the 2-hydroxy acid dehydrogenases. C. glutamicum mutants that carry null alleles of proB, proA, and proC were constructed or isolated from mutagenized cultures. Single proC mutants are auxotrophic for proline and secrete delta1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate, which are the expected phenotypes of bacterial proC mutants. However, the phenotypes or proB and proA mutants are unexpected. A proB mutant has a pleiotropic phenotype, being both proline auxotrophic and affected in cell morphology. Null proA alleles still grow slowly under proline starvation, which suggests that a proA-independent bypass of this metabolic step exists in C. glutamicum. Since proA mutants are complemented by a plasmid that contains the wild-type asd gene of C. glutamicum, the asd gene may play a role in this bypass.     

Mutant Tryptophan Aporepressors with Altered Specificities of Corepressor Recognition

The Escherichia coli trpR gene encodes tryptophan aporepressor, which binds the corepressor ligand, L-tryptophan, to form an active repressor complex. The side chain of residue valine 58 of Trp aporepressor sits at the bottom of the corepressor (L-tryptophan) binding pocket. Mutant trpR genes encoding changes of Val(58) to the other 19 naturally occurring amino acids were made. Each of the mutant proteins requires a higher intracellular concentration of tryptophan for activation of DNA binding than wild-type aporepressor. Whereas wild-type aporepressor is activated better by 5-methyltryptophan (5-MT) than by tryptophan, Ile(58) and other mutant aporepressors prefer tryptophan to 5-MT as corepressor, and Ala(58) and Gly(58) prefer 5-MT much more strongly than wild-type aporepressor in vivo. These mutant aporepressors are the first examples of DNA-binding proteins with altered specificities of cofactor recognition.     

钝齿棒杆菌N-乙酰谷氨酸激酶基因的克隆、序列分析及表达

以钝齿棒杆菌(Corynebacterium crenatum)野生株AS 1.542及产精氨酸突变株971.1的基因组为模板,用PCR方法扩增出N-乙酰谷氨酸激酶基因(argB)片段。核酸序列分析结果表明,该片段全长1505bp,包含一个ORF,推测此ORF区编码一条317个氨基酸的多肽,分子量为33.6kDa。C.crenatum野生株AS 1.542与突变株971.1的argB基因序列比较,发现只在结构区有一个核苷酸的差别但没有引起氨基酸变化。野生株AS 1.542argB基因的编码区核苷酸序列与C.glutamicumATCC 13032、Corynebacterium efficiensYS-314和Escherichia colik12的同源性分别是99.89%、76.62%和37.94%,而氨基酸同源性分别是100%、78.55%和25.25%。在C.crenatum argB基因上游存在启动子区域。经IPTG诱导该基因在棒杆菌中得到有效表达,野生株AS 1.542为宿主的重组子酶活明显提高。突变株971.1为宿主的重组菌酶活提高一倍,精氨酸积累提高约25%。