Temperature-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli affecting beta-galactoside transport

Six different temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants have been isolated which have parental beta-galactoside permease levels at low temperatures but have decreased permease levels when grown at high temperatures. These mutants were derived from Escherichia coli ML308 (lacI(-)Y(+)Z(+)A(+)). After N-methyl-N'-nitro-N'-nitro-soguanidine mutagenesis, ampicillin was used to select for cells unable to grow on low lactose concentrations at 42 C. Temperature-sensitive mutants were assayed for galactoside permease activity after growth in casein hydrolysate medium at 25 or 42 C by measuring both radioactive methylthio-beta-d-galactoside uptake and in vivo o-nitrophenyl-beta-d-galactoside hydrolysis. The six conditional isolates have decreased levels of galactoside permease which are correlated with decreased growth rates at elevated temperatures. The low permease levels are not due to a temperature labile lacY gene product but rather to a temperature labile synthesis rate of functional permease. Some of the mutants exhibit a ts increase in permeability as shown by the increased leakage of intracellular beta-galactosidase and by the increased rate of in vivo o-nitrophenyl-beta-d-galactoside hydrolysis via the nonpermease mediated entry mechanism. Preliminary evidence indicates that transport in general is decreased in these mutants, yet there is some specificity in the mutational lesion since glucoside transport is unaffected. All these observations suggest that these mutants have ts alterations in membrane synthesis which results in pleiotropic effects on various membrane functions.     

Glucose effect and the galactose enzymes of Escherichia coli: correlation between glucose inhibition of induction and inducer transport

Adhya, Sankar (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and Harrison Echols. Glucose effect and the galactose enzymes of Escherichia coli: correlation between glucose inhibition of induction and inducer transport. J. Bacteriol. 92:601-608. 1966.-The inhibitory effect of glucose on the induction of the enzymes required for galactose utilization ("glucose effect") was studied in Escherichia coli. Experiments on the uptake into the cell of labeled inducers (d-galactose-C(14) and d-fucose-H(3)) pointed to inhibition at the level of inducer transport as the possible primary mechanism of the glucose effect in the case of the gal enzymes. This interpretation was supported by the finding that a mutant constitutive for the lac enzymes was resistant to glucose inhibition of galactose induction of the gal enzymes; the mutant had acquired a glucose-resistant alternative transport mechanism for galactose via the constitutively synthesized galactoside permease. Further support for the transport inhibition model was provided by the finding that glucose did not substantially inhibit induction of the gal enzymes when glucose and galactose were produced intracellularly by beta-galactosidase hydrolysis of lactose, even if excess glucose was added. The inducer uptake experiments also showed that d-galactose and d-fucose probably enter the cell via different transport systems, although uptake of both compounds was inhibited by glucose.     

Permease-specific mutations in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli that release the glycerol, maltose, melibiose, and lactose transport systems from regulation by the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system.

Several carbohydrate permease systems in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli are sensitive to regulation by the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system. Mutant Salmonella strains were isolated in which individual transport systems had been rendered insensitive to regulation by sugar substrates of the phosphotransferase system. In one such strain, glycerol uptake was insensitive to regulation; in another, the maltose transport system was resistant to inhibition; and in a third, the regulatory mutation specifically rendered the melibiose permease insensitive to regulation. An analogous mutation in E. coli abolished inhibition of the transport of beta-galactosides via the lactose permease system. The mutations were mapped near the genes which code for the affected transport proteins. The regulatory mutations rendered utilization of the particular carbohydrates resistant to inhibition and synthesis of the corresponding catabolic enzymes partially insensitive to repressive control by sugar substrates of the phosphotransferase system. Studies of repression of beta-galactosidase synthesis in E. coli were conducted with both lactose and isopropyl beta-thiogalactoside as exogenous sources of inducer. Employing high concentrations of isopropyl beta-thiogalactoside, repression of beta-galactosidase synthesis was not altered by the lactose-specific transport regulation-resistant mutation. By contrast, the more severe repression observed with lactose as the exogenous source of inducer was partially abolished by this regulatory mutation. The results support the conclusions that several transport systems, including the lactose permease system, are subject to allosteric regulation and that inhibition of inducer uptake is a primary cause of the repression of catabolic enzyme synthesis.     

Half-of-the sites reactivity in the catalytic mechanism of yeast glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Novick &; Weiner (1957) proposed a model in which induction of the lac operon with suboptimal concentrations of inducer generates a population containing both uninduced and fully induced cells. The latter arise as cells acquire the galactoside transport system, thus initiating an autocatalytic cycle of induction since this permease can transport an inducer for its own synthesis. Evidence in favor of this model has been obtained from direct measurements of the enzyme content of individual cells, using a fluorogenic assay sensitive to one molecule of β-d-galactosidase. Fully induced cells, at the predicted frequency, were found in suboptimally induced populations of wild type strains, and of a strain lacking thiogalactoside transacetylase, but not of a strain lacking galactoside permease. In the wild type, the frequency of cells with an enzyme content intermediate between uninduced and fully induced levels was greater than the frequency predicted for cells within the autocatalytic cycle of induction. According to the model, then, in some of these cells, induction of β-d-galactosidase has occurred without formation of the permease necessary to initiate accumulation of inducer.     

Properties of beta-galactosidase III: implications for entry of galactosides into Klebsiella.

Klebsiella sp. strain CT-200 lacks both its plasmid-borne lac operon, which specifies beta-galactosidase I, and its chromosomal lac operon, which specifies beta-galactosidase II, but it expresses a gene for a third beta-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase III, constitutively. CT-200 was examined to determine whether there was a beta-galactoside permease associated with the beta-galactosidase III gene. The failure of CT-200 to transport thiomethyl-beta-galactoside, o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside, phenyl-beta-galactoside, lactulose, or galactosyl-arabinose was taken as evidence that beta-galactoside permease is not part of a beta-galactosidase III operon. Optimal assay conditions for beta-galactosidase II, whose activity was used as a measure of beta-galactoside transport, are reported here, as are an improved purification method and some physical and catalytic properties of the enzyme not previously reported.     

Unimportance of counterflux in the energetics of "downhill" transport

Adam Kepes suggested that the cellular transport and hydrolysis of orthonitrophenyl-beta-d-galactopyranoside is powered by the counterflux of the d-galactose resulting from beta-galactosidase action within the cell. His explanation would rationalize the unique insensitivity of this galactoside transport to energy poisons such as azide. But contrary to the predictions of this hypothesis, (i) there is no initial large inhibition that progressively lessens as galactose is produced. This was shown with a double wavelength stopped-flow spectrophotometer developed to eliminate interference from turbidity transients. (ii) The azide sensitivity does not increase with an external concentration of galactose sufficient to reverse the thermodynamic gradient. (iii) Mutation in galactose utilization or growth on highly catabolite-repressing regimens did not increase the azide sensitivity, and induction of galactose transport and metabolism did not decrease azide sensitivity. It was found that Kepes measurements must have contained two artifacts. One is that the control rate of hydrolysis decreases with time as the dense cell suspension becomes anaerobic. The other is that azide causes turbidity changes for some time after its introduction. If the former is avoided by magnetic stirring and the latter by double wavelength spectrophotometry or controls without substrate, the inhibition is constant from the earliest time that can be measured. It is therefore concluded that energy-unstarved cells, exposed to azide, still have adequate energy reserves to couple to the downhill transport, although their potential is not adequate to drive accumulation against a concentration gradient.     

Reducing the glucose uptake rate in Escherichia coli affects growth rate but not protein production

Although glucose is an inexpensive substrate widely used as a carbon source in Escherichia coli recombinant fermentation technology, 10-30% of the carbon supply is wasted by excreting acetate. In addition to the loss of carbon source, the excretion of a weak acid may result in increased energetic demands and hence a decreased yield. Because glucose can enter the cell via several transport systems, isogenic strains defective in one or two of these transport systems were constructed. The effects of changes in the glucose uptake capacity on the in vivo flux distribution to a desired end product (beta-galactosidase) and to acetate were studied. The lack of one of the components (IICB(Glc) protein) of the glucose-phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system (Glc-PTS) reduced the growth rate significantly. The maintenance of a low-copy plasmid in this strain resulted in further arrest of the growth rate. However, beta-galactosidase production had no effect on growth rate. This strain directed more carbon into biomass and carbon dioxide, and less into acetate. Beta-galactosidase was produced in amounts not significantly different from the wild-type strain from half the amount of glucose. An explanation for the experimental results is given, making use of published results on metabolic regulation.     

Glucose-specific permease of the bacterial phosphotransferase system: phosphorylation and oligomeric structure of the glucose-specific IIGlc-IIIGlc complex of Salmonella typhimurium

The glucose-specific membrane permease (IIGlc) of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) mediates active transport and concomitant phosphorylation of glucose. The purified permease has been phosphorylated in vitro and has been isolated (P-IIGlc). A phosphate to protein stoichiometry of between 0.6 and 0.8 has been measured. Phosphoryl transfer from P-IIGlc to glucose has been demonstrated. This process is, however, slow and accompanied by hydrolysis of the phosphoprotein unless IIIGlc, the cytoplasmic phosphoryl carrier protein specific to the glucose permease (IIGlc) of the PTS, is added. Addition of unphosphorylated IIIGlc resulted in rapid formation of glucose 6-phosphate with almost no hydrolysis of P-IIGlc accompanying the process. A complex of IIGlc and IIIGlc could be precipitated from bacterial cell lysates with monoclonal anti-IIGlc immunoglobulin. The molar ratio of IIGlc:IIIGlc in the immunoprecipitate was approximately 1:2. Analytical equilibrium centrifugation as well as chemical cross-linking showed that purified IIGlc itself is a dimer (106 kDa), consisting of two identical subunits. These results suggest that the functional glucose-specific permease complex comprises a membrane-spanning homodimer of IIGlc to which four molecules of IIIGlc are bound on the cytoplasmic face.     

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.     

Differential Labeling of Components in Human Erythrocyte Membranes Associated with the Transport of Glucose

The irreversible inhibition of glucose transport by 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (FDNB) has been used to identify membrane proteins possibly associated with glucose transport in human crythrocytes. D-Glucose was shown to enhance significantly the rate of FDNB inhibition of transport when present during the reaction, whereas cytochalasin B (CB) and D-maltose retarded this FDNB inhibition of transport. This modulation of the inhibition reaction formed the basis for a double isotopic differential labeling technique using [¹⁴C]- and [³H]FDNB followed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to distinguish transport-associated polypeptides from bulk membrane dinitrophenylated proteins.

Reactions in the presence of CB or maltose revealed the presence of a differentially labeled polypeptide(s), with a molecular weight of approximately 60,000-65,000 daltons. This effect could in part be reversed in the presence of D-glucose but not L-glucose. Reactions in the presence of D-glucose resulted in two regions of differential labeling. One region was around 200,000 daltons and the other corresponded to a 90,000-dalton band.

Extraction of membrane proteins with p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonate resulted in no loss of the 60,000-dalton peak, indicating that this labeled polypeptide(s) was firmly anchored in the hydrophobic core of the membrane.

These results indicate that as many as three membrane polypeptides are differentially labeled by FDNB under conditions strongly associated with the inhibition of the glucose transport system and may be involved in the regulation of glucose transport.     

Evidence for catabolite inhibition in regulation of pentose utilization and transport in the ruminal bacterium Selenomonas ruminantium.

Pentose sugars can be an important energy source for ruminal bacteria, but there has been relatively little study regarding the regulation of pentose utilization and transport by these organisms. Selenomonas ruminantium, a prevalent ruminal bacterium, actively metabolizes xylose and arabinose. When strain D was incubated with a combination of glucose and xylose or arabinose, the hexose was preferentially utilized over pentoses, and similar preferences were observed for sucrose and maltose. However, there was simultaneous utilization of cellobiose and pentoses. Continuous-culture studies indicated that at a low dilution rate (0.10 h-1) the organism was able to co-utilize glucose and xylose. This co-utilization was associated with growth rate-dependent decreases in glucose phosphotransferase activity, and it appeared that inhibition of pentose utilization was due to catabolite inhibition by the glucose phosphotransferase transport system. Xylose transport activity in strain D required induction, while arabinose permease synthesis did not require inducer but was subject to repression by glucose. Since an electrical potential or a chemical gradient of protons drove xylose and arabinose uptake, pentose-proton symport systems apparently contributed to transport.     

An analysis of lactose permease "sugar specificity" mutations which also affect the coupling between proton and lactose transport. I. Val177 and Val177/Asn319 permeases facilitate proton uniport and sugar uniport

The sugar specificity mutants of the lactose permease containing Val177 or Val177/Asn319 were analyzed with regard to their ability to couple H+ and sugar co-transport. Both mutants were able to transport lactose downhill to a significant degree. The Val177 mutant was partially defective in the active accumulation of galactosides, whereas the Val177/Asn319 mutant was completely defective in the uphill accumulation of sugars. With regard to coupling, the Val177 mutant was shown to catalyze the uncoupled transport of H+ to a substantial degree. This led to a decrease in the H+ electrochemical gradient under aerobic conditions and also resulted in faster H+ uptake when a transient H+ electrochemical gradient was generated under anaerobic conditions. Interestingly, galactosides were shown to diminish the rate of uncoupled H+ transport in the Val177 strain. The Val177/Asn319 strain also catalyzed uncoupled H+ transport, but to a lesser degree than the single Val177 mutant. In addition, the Val177/Asn319 mutant was shown to transport galactosides with or without H+. The observed H+/lactose stoichiometry was 0.30 in the double mutant compared to 0.98 in the wild-type strain. When an H+ electrochemical gradient was generated across the membrane, the Val177/Asn319 mutant permease was shown to facilitate an extremely rapid net H+ leak if nonmetabolizable galactosides had been equilibrated across the membrane. The mechanism of this leak is consistent with a circular pathway involving H+/galactoside influx and uncoupled galactoside efflux. The magnitude of the H+ leak in the presence of nonmetabolizable galactosides was so great in the double mutant that low concentrations of certain galactosides (i.e. 0.5 mM thiodigalactoside) resulted in a complete inhibition of growth. These results are discussed with regard to the possibility that cation and sugar binding to the lactose permease may involve a direct physical coupling at a common recognition site.     

Metabolic engineering and protein directed evolution increase the yield of L-phenylalanine synthesized from glucose in Escherichia coli

L-phenylalanine (L-Phe) is an aromatic amino acid with diverse commercial applications. Technologies for industrial microbial synthesis of L-Phe using glucose as a starting raw material currently achieve a relatively low conversion yield (Y(Phe/Glc)). The purpose of this work was to study the effect of PTS (phosphotransferase transport system) inactivation and overexpression of different versions of feedback inhibition resistant chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydratase (CM-PDT) on the yield (Y(Phe/Glc)) and productivity of L-Phe synthesized from glucose. The E. coli JM101 strain and its mutant derivative PB12 (PTS(-)Glc(+) phenotype) were used as hosts. PB12 has an inactive PTS, but is capable of transporting and phosphorylating glucose by using an alternative system constituted by galactose permease (GalP) and glucokinase activities (Glk). JM101 and PB12 were transformed with three plasmids, harboring genes that encode for a feedback inhibition resistant DAHP synthase (aroG(fbr)), transketolase (tktA) and either a truncated CM-PDT (pheA(fbr)) or its derived evolved genes (pheA(ev1) or pheA(ev2)). Resting-cells experiments with these engineered strains showed that JM101 and PB12 strains expressing either pheA(ev1) or pheA(ev2) genes produced l-Phe from glucose with Y(Phe/Glc) of 0.21 and 0.33 g/g, corresponding to 38 and 60% of the maximum theoretical yield (0.55 g/g), respectively. In addition, in both engineered strains the reached q(Phe) high levels of 40 mg/g-dcw.h. The metabolic engineering strategy followed in this work, including a strain with an inactive PTS, resulted in a positive impact over the Y(Phe/Glc), enhancing it nearly 57% compared with its PTS(+) counterpart. This is the first report wherein PTS inactivation was a successful strategy to improve the Y(Phe/Glc).     

Possible mechanisms underlying the slow lactose fermentation phenotype in Shigella spp.

A Southern hybridization analysis revealed that the region homologous to Escherichia coli lacZ was present on the chromosomal DNAs of beta-galactosidase-positive Shigella strains, such as Shigella dysenteriae serovar 1 and Shigella sonnei strains, whereas this region was absent from chromosomal DNAs of beta-galactosidase-negative strains of Shigella flexneri and Shigella boydii. We found that the lacY-A region was deficient in S. dysenteriae serovar 1 and believe that this is the reason for the slow fermentation of lactose by this strain. S. sonnei strains possessed the region which hybridized with E. coli lacY-A despite their slow hydrolysis of lactose. The whole lactose-fermenting region was cloned from S. sonnei and compared with the cloned lac operon of E. coli K-12. Both clones directed the synthesis of beta-galactosidase in an E. coli K-12 strain lacking indigenous beta-galactosidase activity (strain JM109-1), and we observed no difference in the expression of beta-galactosidase activity in S. sonnei and E. coli. However, E. coli JM109-1 harboring the lactose-fermenting genes of S. sonnei exhibited the slow lactose fermentation phenotype like the parental strain. S. sonnei strains had no detectable lactose permease activities. E. coli JM109-1 harboring the lactose-fermenting genes of S. sonnei had a detectable permease activity, possibly because of the multicopy nature of the cloned genes, but this permease activity was much lower than that of strain JM109-1 harboring the lac operon of E. coli K-12. From these results we concluded that slow lactose fermentation by S. sonnei is due to weak lactose permease activity.     

Possible mechanisms underlying the slow lactose fermentation phenotype in Shigella spp.

A Southern hybridization analysis revealed that the region homologous to Escherichia coli lacZ was present on the chromosomal DNAs of beta-galactosidase-positive Shigella strains, such as Shigella dysenteriae serovar 1 and Shigella sonnei strains, whereas this region was absent from chromosomal DNAs of beta-galactosidase-negative strains of Shigella flexneri and Shigella boydii. We found that the lacY-A region was deficient in S. dysenteriae serovar 1 and believe that this is the reason for the slow fermentation of lactose by this strain. S. sonnei strains possessed the region which hybridized with E. coli lacY-A despite their slow hydrolysis of lactose. The whole lactose-fermenting region was cloned from S. sonnei and compared with the cloned lac operon of E. coli K-12. Both clones directed the synthesis of beta-galactosidase in an E. coli K-12 strain lacking indigenous beta-galactosidase activity (strain JM109-1), and we observed no difference in the expression of beta-galactosidase activity in S. sonnei and E. coli. However, E. coli JM109-1 harboring the lactose-fermenting genes of S. sonnei exhibited the slow lactose fermentation phenotype like the parental strain. S. sonnei strains had no detectable lactose permease activities. E. coli JM109-1 harboring the lactose-fermenting genes of S. sonnei had a detectable permease activity, possibly because of the multicopy nature of the cloned genes, but this permease activity was much lower than that of strain JM109-1 harboring the lac operon of E. coli K-12. From these results we concluded that slow lactose fermentation by S. sonnei is due to weak lactose permease activity.     

GAL2 codes for a membrane-bound subunit of the galactose permease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The gene encoding the galactose permease of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (GAL2) was cloned. The clone restores galactose permease activity to gal2 yeasts and is regulated by galactose in a manner similar to other GAL gene products (GAL1, -7, and -10). Experiments with temperature-conditional secretory mutants indicated that transport of the GAL2 gene product to the cell surface requires a functional secretory pathway. In addition, gene fusions were constructed between the GAL2 gene and the Escherichia coli lacZ gene. The GAL2-lacZ gene fusions code for galactose-regulated beta-galactosidase activity in yeasts. The beta-galactosidase activity was found to be membrane bound.     

beta-D-Galactoside transport in Escherichia coli: substrate recognition.

1. A number of galactosides and other sugar compounds were examined as inhibitors of facilitated or active transport by the lactose permease system of Escherichia coli. Efficient inhibition required an alpha- or beta-anomeric galactopyranosyl ring of D-configuration, a free 6-hydroxyl group, and a certain aglycone size which was reached, for example, by monosaccharide or nitrophenyl substituents. 2. Aromatic alpha-D-galactopyranosides acted as high-affinity inhibitors (Ki, below 50 micrometer). At least two of them were not transported, in contrast to alpha-galactoside disaccharides and to aromatic beta-D-galactopyranosides. 3. beta-D-Galactoside transport was not significantly inhibited by specific inhibitors and transitionstate analogues of beta-galactosidase (D-galactal, D-galactonolascone). 4. The beta-D-galactopyranoside, lactitol, and alpha-D-galactopyranoside, galactinol, were not efficiently bound by the lactose permease system, although the maximal rate of uptake of lacitol was similar to that of lactose. By comparison with several structurally related D-galactopyranosides, the decreased affinity was attributed to an effect of the membrane/water interface. A model for substrate recognition by the lactose permease system is presented.     

Characterization and sequencing of the lac Y54-41 "uncoupled" mutant of the lactose permease

The Escherichia coli strain carrying the lac Y54-41 gene encodes a mutant lactose permease which carries out normal downhill transport of galactosides but is defective in uphill accumulation. In this study, the mutant lac Y54-41 gene was cloned onto the multicopy vector pUR270. As expected, the cloned gene was shown to express normal downhill transport activity but was markedly defective in the uphill transport of methyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside. Direct measurements of H+ transport revealed that the mutant permease can transport H+ with methyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside but at a significantly reduced capacity compared to the wild-type strain. However, under conditions where the mutant and wild-type strains both transport lactose at similar rates, no detectable H+ transport was observed in the mutant strain. The entire cloned lac Y54-41 gene was subjected to DNA sequencing, and a single base substitution was found which replaces glycine 262 in the protein with a cysteine residue. Inhibition experiments showed that the mutant permease is dramatically more sensitive to three different sulfhydryl reagents: N-ethylmaleimide, p-hydroxymericuribenzoate, and p-hydroxymercuriphenylsulfonic acid. However, the lactose analogue, thiodigalactoside, was only marginally effective at protecting against inhibition in the mutant strain. The results are consistent with the idea that the sulfhydryl reagents are inhibiting the mutant permease activity by reacting with cysteine 262.     

Sucrose fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae lacking hexose transport

Sucrose is the major carbon source used by Saccharomyces cerevisiae during production of baker's yeast, fuel ethanol and several distilled beverages. It is generally accepted that sucrose fermentation proceeds through extracellular hydrolysis of the sugar, mediated by the periplasmic invertase, producing glucose and fructose that are transported into the cells and metabolized. In the present work we analyzed the contribution to sucrose fermentation of a poorly characterized pathway of sucrose utilization by S. cerevisiae cells, the active transport of the sugar through the plasma membrane and its intracellular hydrolysis. A yeast strain that lacks the major hexose transporters (hxt1-hxt7 and gal2) is incapable of growing on or fermenting glucose or fructose. Our results show that this hxt-null strain is still able to ferment sucrose due to direct uptake of the sugar into the cells. Deletion of the AGT1 gene, which encodes a high-affinity sucrose-H(+) symporter, rendered cells incapable of sucrose fermentation. Since sucrose is not an inducer of the permease, expression of the AGT1 must be constitutive in order to allow growth of the hxt-null strain on sucrose. The molecular characterization of active sucrose transport and fermentation by S. cerevisiae cells opens new opportunities to optimize yeasts for sugarcane-based industrial processes.     

The transmembrane topology of the sn-glycerol-3-phosphate permease of Escherichia coli analysed by phoA and lacZ protein fusions

The Escherichia coli glpT gene encodes a transport protein that mediates uptake of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate. This permease is a member of a class of bacterial organophosphate permeases which transport substrates by antiport with inorganic phosphate. The glpT gene product, probably an oligomer of a single polypeptide chain, is thought to span the cytoplasmic membrane several times, as predicted by the hydropathic profile. Protein fusions, in which varying lengths of the amino-terminal end of the permease is attached to alkaline phosphatase (phoA) and to beta-galactosidase (lacZ) were constructed. On the assumption that phoA fusions only exhibit high enzymatic activity when fused to extra-cytoplasmic regions of the target protein, whereas lacZ fusions will only be active when the beta-galactosidase portion is attached to cytoplasmic domains of the target protein, the activities of the fusions were used to test a two-dimensional model for the permease. The model proposes that GlpT contains 12 transmembrane segments divided by a larger cytoplasmic region. Despite some limitation caused by hot-spot sites of transpositions, the TnphoA approach was consistent with the model. In contrast, we feel that the enzymatic activity of lacZ fusions is only a limited parameter for studying the topology of a complex membrane protein.