The Role of Glutamine Oxoglutarate Aminotransferase and Glutamate Dehydrogenase in Nitrogen Metabolism in Mycobacterium bovis BCG |
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| Authors: | Albertus J. Viljoen Catriona J. Kirsten Bienyameen Baker Paul D. van Helden Ian J. F. Wiid |
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| Affiliation: | DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, MRC Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa.; Colorado State University, United States of America, |
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| Abstract: | Recent evidence suggests that the regulation of intracellular glutamate levels could play an important role in the ability of pathogenic slow-growing mycobacteria to grow in vivo. However, little is known about the in vitro requirement for the enzymes which catalyse glutamate production and degradation in the slow-growing mycobacteria, namely; glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GOGAT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), respectively. We report that allelic replacement of the Mycobacterium bovis BCG gltBD-operon encoding for the large (gltB) and small (gltD) subunits of GOGAT with a hygromycin resistance cassette resulted in glutamate auxotrophy and that deletion of the GDH encoding-gene (gdh) led to a marked growth deficiency in the presence of L-glutamate as a sole nitrogen source as well as reduction in growth when cultured in an excess of L-asparagine. |
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