Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1991 Oct;173(20):6390–6397. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.20.6390-6397.1991

Carbon metabolism regulates expression of the pfl (pyruvate formate-lyase) gene in Escherichia coli.

L J Rasmussen 1, P L Møller 1, T Atlung 1
PMCID: PMC208971  PMID: 1917868

Abstract

The anaerobic expression of pfl is reduced both in a strain mutated in the pgi gene and in a pfkA pfkB double mutant strain when cells are grown in medium supplemented with glucose. When cells are grown in medium supplemented with either fructose or pyruvate, no reduction is observed in these strains. The amount of pyruvate in the cells may be responsible for the reduced expression of pfl in the strains mutated in the genes encoding the glycolytic enzymes. Because of the lowered oxygen concentration in the medium, the expression of pfl is induced when an exponentially growing culture enters the stationary phase. This induction is increased when the Casamino Acid concentration is raised 10-fold or when the medium is supplemented with NaCl. Superhelicity of DNA is decreased in a pgi mutant strain grown in medium supplemented with glucose. The superhelicity is also changed, but the opposite way, in a wild-type strain grown in medium supplemented with Casamino Acids at a high concentration or 0.3 M sodium chloride. Our data show that changes in superhelicity do not affect the aerobic expression of pfl but might be important for the anaerobic induction of pfl.

Full text

PDF
6390

Images in this article

6396FIG. 5
on p.6396

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Atlung T. Allele-specific suppression of dnaA(Ts) mutations by rpoB mutations in Escherichia coli. Mol Gen Genet. 1984;197(1):125–128. doi: 10.1007/BF00327932. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bachmann B. J. Linkage map of Escherichia coli K-12, edition 8. Microbiol Rev. 1990 Jun;54(2):130–197. doi: 10.1128/mr.54.2.130-197.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bachmann B. J. Pedigrees of some mutant strains of Escherichia coli K-12. Bacteriol Rev. 1972 Dec;36(4):525–557. doi: 10.1128/br.36.4.525-557.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Balke V. L., Gralla J. D. Changes in the linking number of supercoiled DNA accompany growth transitions in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1987 Oct;169(10):4499–4506. doi: 10.1128/jb.169.10.4499-4506.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Birnboim H. C., Doly J. A rapid alkaline extraction procedure for screening recombinant plasmid DNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1979 Nov 24;7(6):1513–1523. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.6.1513. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bolivar F., Rodriguez R. L., Greene P. J., Betlach M. C., Heyneker H. L., Boyer H. W., Crosa J. H., Falkow S. Construction and characterization of new cloning vehicles. II. A multipurpose cloning system. Gene. 1977;2(2):95–113. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chippaux M., Giudici D., Abou-Jaoudé A., Casse F., Pascal M. C. Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne C.N.R.S., Marsielle, France. Mol Gen Genet. 1978 Apr 6;160(2):225–229. doi: 10.1007/BF00267485. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Christiansen L., Pedersen S. Cloning, restriction endonuclease mapping and post-transcriptional regulation of rpsA, the structural gene for ribosomal protein S1. Mol Gen Genet. 1981;181(4):548–551. doi: 10.1007/BF00428751. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Csonka L. N. Physiological and genetic responses of bacteria to osmotic stress. Microbiol Rev. 1989 Mar;53(1):121–147. doi: 10.1128/mr.53.1.121-147.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Daldal F., Fraenkel D. G. Tn10 insertions in the pfkB region of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1981 Sep;147(3):935–943. doi: 10.1128/jb.147.3.935-943.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dorman C. J., Barr G. C., Ni Bhriain N., Higgins C. F. DNA supercoiling and the anaerobic and growth phase regulation of tonB gene expression. J Bacteriol. 1988 Jun;170(6):2816–2826. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.6.2816-2826.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Fraenkel D. G., Levisohn S. R. Glucose and gluconate metabolism in an Escherichia coli mutant lacking phosphoglucose isomerase. J Bacteriol. 1967 May;93(5):1571–1578. doi: 10.1128/jb.93.5.1571-1578.1967. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Higgins C. F., Dorman C. J., Stirling D. A., Waddell L., Booth I. R., May G., Bremer E. A physiological role for DNA supercoiling in the osmotic regulation of gene expression in S. typhimurium and E. coli. Cell. 1988 Feb 26;52(4):569–584. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90470-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Jamieson D. J., Higgins C. F. Anaerobic and leucine-dependent expression of a peptide transport gene in Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol. 1984 Oct;160(1):131–136. doi: 10.1128/jb.160.1.131-136.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Jamieson D. J., Higgins C. F. Two genetically distinct pathways for transcriptional regulation of anaerobic gene expression in Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol. 1986 Oct;168(1):389–397. doi: 10.1128/jb.168.1.389-397.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Jamieson D. J., Sawers R. G., Rugman P. A., Boxer D. H., Higgins C. F. Effects of anaerobic regulatory mutations and catabolite repression on regulation of hydrogen metabolism and hydrogenase isoenzyme composition in Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol. 1986 Oct;168(1):405–411. doi: 10.1128/jb.168.1.405-411.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Knappe J., Sawers G. A radical-chemical route to acetyl-CoA: the anaerobically induced pyruvate formate-lyase system of Escherichia coli. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 1990 Aug;6(4):383–398. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1990.tb04108.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kuritzkes D. R., Zhang X. Y., Lin E. C. Use of phi(glp-lac) in studies of respiratory regulation of the Escherichia coli anaerobic sn-glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase genes (glpAB). J Bacteriol. 1984 Feb;157(2):591–598. doi: 10.1128/jb.157.2.591-598.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Lambden P. R., Guest J. R. Mutants of Escherichia coli K12 unable to use fumarate as an anaerobic electron acceptor. J Gen Microbiol. 1976 Dec;97(2):145–160. doi: 10.1099/00221287-97-2-145. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Meacock P. A., Cohen S. N. Genetic analysis of the inter-relationship between plasmid replication and incompatibility. Mol Gen Genet. 1979 Jul 13;174(2):135–147. doi: 10.1007/BF00268351. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Messing J., Vieira J. A new pair of M13 vectors for selecting either DNA strand of double-digest restriction fragments. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):269–276. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90016-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Morrissey A. T., Fraenkel D. G. Chromosomal location of a gene for fructose 6-phosphate kinase in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1969 Nov;100(2):1108–1109. doi: 10.1128/jb.100.2.1108-1109.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Newman B. M., Cole J. A. The chromosomal location and pleiotropic effects of mutations of the nirA+ gene of Escherichia coli K12: the essential role of nirA+ in nitrite reduction and in other anaerobic redox reactions. J Gen Microbiol. 1978 May;106(1):1–12. doi: 10.1099/00221287-106-1-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Ni Bhriain N., Dorman C. J., Higgins C. F. An overlap between osmotic and anaerobic stress responses: a potential role for DNA supercoiling in the coordinate regulation of gene expression. Mol Microbiol. 1989 Jul;3(7):933–942. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1989.tb00243.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Rödel W., Plaga W., Frank R., Knappe J. Primary structures of Escherichia coli pyruvate formate-lyase and pyruvate-formate-lyase-activating enzyme deduced from the DNA nucleotide sequences. Eur J Biochem. 1988 Oct 15;177(1):153–158. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1988.tb14356.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Sawers G., Böck A. Anaerobic regulation of pyruvate formate-lyase from Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol. 1988 Nov;170(11):5330–5336. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.11.5330-5336.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Sawers G., Böck A. Novel transcriptional control of the pyruvate formate-lyase gene: upstream regulatory sequences and multiple promoters regulate anaerobic expression. J Bacteriol. 1989 May;171(5):2485–2498. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.5.2485-2498.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Sawers G., Wagner A. F., Böck A. Transcription initiation at multiple promoters of the pfl gene by E sigma 70-dependent transcription in vitro and heterologous expression in Pseudomonas putida in vivo. J Bacteriol. 1989 Sep;171(9):4930–4937. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.9.4930-4937.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Schneider K., Beck C. F. Promoter-probe vectors for the analysis of divergently arranged promoters. Gene. 1986;42(1):37–48. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(86)90148-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Shaw D. J., Guest J. R. Nucleotide sequence of the fnr gene and primary structure of the Enr protein of Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Oct 11;10(19):6119–6130. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.19.6119. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Shaw D. J., Rice D. W., Guest J. R. Homology between CAP and Fnr, a regulator of anaerobic respiration in Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1983 May 15;166(2):241–247. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80011-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Smith M. W., Neidhardt F. C. Proteins induced by anaerobiosis in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1983 Apr;154(1):336–343. doi: 10.1128/jb.154.1.336-343.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Spiro S., Guest J. R. Activation of the lac operon of Escherichia coli by a mutant FNR protein. Mol Microbiol. 1987 Jul;1(1):53–58. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1987.tb00526.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Unden G., Guest J. R. Isolation and characterization of the Fnr protein, the transcriptional regulator of anaerobic electron transport in Escherichia coli. Eur J Biochem. 1985 Jan 2;146(1):193–199. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1985.tb08638.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Vieira J., Messing J. The pUC plasmids, an M13mp7-derived system for insertion mutagenesis and sequencing with synthetic universal primers. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):259–268. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90015-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. de Crombrugghe B., Busby S., Buc H. Cyclic AMP receptor protein: role in transcription activation. Science. 1984 May 25;224(4651):831–838. doi: 10.1126/science.6372090. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES