大肠杆菌色氨酸生物合成途径关键酶的调控

为了通过基因工程手段提高大肠杆菌色氨酸产量, 对色氨酸生物合成途径中的关键基因trpR、tnaA、aroG和trpED进行了改造。首先通过敲除trpR基因解除了基因组上色氨酸合成和转运关键酶受到的反馈阻遏调控, 进而又敲除了tnaA基因, 阻断了色氨酸的分解代谢。然后, 将色氨酸合成途径的关键酶aroGfbr和trpEDfbr基因串联表达, 以去除色氨酸生物合成途径的瓶颈。与对照MG1655相比, trpR基因单敲菌色氨酸浓度提高了10倍, 双敲菌色氨酸浓度提高了约20倍。pZE12-trpEDfbr转入双敲菌后色氨酸浓度提高到168 mg/L, 而将aroGfbr和trpEDfbr转入双敲菌后, 色氨酸浓度提高到820 mg/L。为构建色氨酸高产菌奠定了基础。     

大肠杆菌色氨酸生物合成途径关键酶的调控

为了通过基因工程手段提高大肠杆菌色氨酸产量, 对色氨酸生物合成途径中的关键基因trpR、tnaA、aroG和trpED进行了改造.首先通过敲除trpR基因解除了基因组上色氨酸合成和转运关键酶受到的反馈阻遏调控, 进而又敲除了tnaA基因, 阻断了色氨酸的分解代谢.然后, 将色氨酸合成途径的关键酶aroGfbr和trpEDfbr基因串联表达, 以去除色氨酸生物合成途径的瓶颈.与对照MG1655相比, trpR基因单敲菌色氨酸浓度提高了10倍, 双敲菌色氨酸浓度提高了约20倍.pZE12-trpEDfbr转入双敲菌后色氨酸浓度提高到168 mg/L, 而将aroGfbr和trpEDfbr转入双敲菌后, 色氨酸浓度提高到820 mg/L.为构建色氨酸高产菌奠定了基础.     

Translational Coupling during Expression of the Tryptophan Operon of ESCHERICHIA COLI

E. coli trpE polar mutations are 10 time more polar on trpD gene expression than on downstream (trpC, B, or A) gene expression. This effects was shown to be the result of "translational coupling," in which efficient translation of trpE-trpD intercistronic punctuation region consists of overlapping stop and start codons, and the trpE and trpD gene products form a functional complex in the cell. In light observations and characteristics, several models for the mechanism of translational coupling are considered.     

Enzymes of the Tryptophan Pathway in Acinetobacter calco-aceticus

All enzymes of the tryptophan synthetic pathway were detectable in extracts from wild-type Acinetobacter calco-aceticus. The levels of these enzymes were determined in extracts from a number of auxotrophs grown under limiting tryptophan. In each case only anthranilate synthetase was found to be present in increased amounts, whereas the specific activities of the remaining enzymes remained unchanged and unaffected by the tryptophan concentration. Derepression of anthranilate synthetase was found to occur as the concentration of tryptophan became limiting. Anthranilate synthetase and phosphoribosyl transferase activities are both feedback-inhibited by tryptophan. Molecular weight determination carried out by gel filtration and zonal centrifugation in sucrose revealed that all the enzymes are less than 100,000, and no molecular aggregates of these enzymes were detected. The data indicate that tryptophan synthesis in Acinetobacter is regulated both by feedback inhibition of the first two enzymes of the pathway and by repression control of anthranilate synthetase.     

Enzymes of the Tryptophan Pathway in Three Bacillus Species

The tryptophan synthetic pathway was characterized in three species of Bacillus, B. subtilis, B. pumilus, and B. alvei. They share the common features of a pathway which is subject to tryptophan repression, contains no unexpected complexes among the five enzymes, exhibits dissociable anthranilate synthase enzymes which do not require phosphoribosyl transferase for amidetransfer activity, contains separate indoleglycerol phosphate synthase and phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase enzymes, and contains similar tryptophan synthetase multimers. In looking at these characteristics in detail however, differences among the three species became apparent, as, for example, in the complementation observed between the alpha and beta(2) components of tryptophan synthetase, and the dissociation patterns of the large and small components of anthranilate synthase. The results demonstrate some pitfalls in attempting to compare multimeric enzymes in crude extracts from different organisms.     

Enzymes of the Tryptophan Synthetic Pathway in Pseudomonas putida

The first four enzymatic activities of the tryptophan synthetic pathway in Pseudomonas putida were found on separate molecules. Gel filtration and density gradient centrifugation experiments did not disclose any associations or aggregations among them. These findings contrast with the situation found in the enteric bacteria, where the first two activities are found in an aggregate and the third and fourth are catalyzed by a single enzyme. Tryptophan synthetase, the last enzyme of the pathway, consists of two dissociable components. The affinity of these components is less in P. putida than is the case in Escherichia coli.     

Regulation of Newly Evolved Enzymes. I. Selection of a Novel Lactase Regulated by Lactose in ESCHERICHIA COLI

Thirty-four lactose-utilizing strains of E. coli were selected from a lac Z deletion strain. In 31 of these, the synthesis of the newly evolved lactase is regulated by lactose. The lactase activity in all the strains is indistinguishable from the ebg(+) activity identified by Campbell, Lengyel and Langridge (1973).     

Regulation of Tryptophan Biosynthetic Enzymes in Neurospora crassa

The formation of enzymatic activities involved in the biosynthesis of tryptophan in Neurospora crassa was examined under various conditions in several strains. With growth-limiting tryptophan, the formation of four enzymatic activities, anthranilic acid synthetase (AAS), anthranilate-5-phosphoribosylpyrophosphate phosphoribosyl transferase (PRAT), indoleglycerol phosphate synthetase (InGPS), and tryptophan synthetase (TS) did not occur coordinately. AAS and TS activities began to increase immediately, whereas PRAT and InGPS activities began to increase only after 6 to 12 hr of incubation. In the presence of amitrole (3-amino-1,2,4-triazole), the formation of TS activity in a wild-type strain was more greatly enhanced than were AAS and InGPS activities. With a tr-3 mutant, which ordinarily exhibits an elevated TS activity, amitrole did not produce an increase in TS activity greater than that observed on limiting tryptophan. With tr-3 mutants, the increased levels of TS activity could be correlated with the accumulation of indoleglycerol in the medium; prior genetic blocks which prevented or reduced the synthesis of indoleglycerol also reduced the formation of TS activity. The addition of indoleglycerol to cultures of a double mutant (tr-1, tr-3) which could not synthesize indoleglycerol markedly stimulated the production of TS activity but not PRAT activity; the production of TS activity reached the same level with limiting or with excess tryptophan. A model explaining these and other related observations on enzyme formation in N. crassa is proposed.     

Dominant Mutators in ESCHERICHIA COLI

In this paper we report on the isolation and genetic analysis of a series of strong mutators mapping at five minutes on the E. coli chromosome. These mutations are dominant and show no evidence of interaction in merodiploids. Cultures grown in broth medium exhibit mutant frequencies five to six orders of magnitude higher than mut⁺ strains. Cultures propagated in minimal salts media mutate at rates one to three orders higher than wild-type. Three-factor crosses have been used to order these mutators relative to metD, proA, and a Tn10 insertion near five minutes.     

Tryptophan Synthetic Pathway and Its Regulation in Chromobacterium violaceum

Extracts of Chromobacterium violaceum catalyzed all of the reactions involved in synthesizing tryptophan from chorismic acid. Tryptophan auxotrophs which had lost any of these activities did not produce the characteristic purple pigment, violacein, when grown on a medium in which tryptophan was limiting. Gel filtration of extracts allowed us to estimate molecular weights for the tryptophan enzymes. All of the enzymes appeared to have molecular weights below 100,000. No enzymes were observed to occur in aggregates. The specific activities of the enzymes of the tryptophan pathway did not change when mutants were grown under conditions of limiting or excess tryptophan. The first enzyme in the pathway, anthranilate synthetase, was subject to feedback control by the end product, tryptophan. Tryptophan acted as a noncompetitive inhibitor with respect to glutamine, one of the substrates for anthranilate synthetase, and as a competitive inhibitor of the reaction when chorismate, the other substrate, was varied. The nonlinearity observed in the Lineweaver-Burk plot in the latter case suggests that there may be more than one chorismate-binding site on anthranilate synthetase.