Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1983 Dec;156(3):1107–1117. doi: 10.1128/jb.156.3.1107-1117.1983

Specificity and control of uptake of purines and other compounds in Bacillus subtilis.

T C Beaman, A D Hitchins, K Ochi, N Vasantha, T Endo, E Freese
PMCID: PMC217955  PMID: 6417108

Abstract

Certain nucleotides control adaptation to changing nutrition or differentiation (sporulation) resulting from a general nutritional deficiency. To maintain the adaptation or differentiation process, once it has started, it may have been important for cells to evolve several independent and metabolically controllable systems enabling the uptake and metabolism of various nucleic acid bases or nucleosides. We have analyzed the cellular reactions with these compounds by measuring both their effect on growth and their uptake in appropriately chosen auxotrophic and uptake mutants. We have found one uptake system for guanine and hypoxanthine, another one for guanosine and inosine, and three other systems for adenine, adenosine, and uracil. The uptake systems of guanine-hypoxanthine and guanosine-inosine are inhibited by the stringent response to amino acid deprivation (increase of guanosine 5'-diphosphate-3'-diphosphate), but they do not depend on the concentration of GTP, which decreases during sporulation. In contrast, the uptake of Ura depends on the presence of GTP, regardless of whether a GTP decrease was produced by the stringent response or otherwise. This was the only uptake system whose decrease was always correlated with the onset of sporulation. The uptake of other compounds, e.g., alpha-methylglucoside and alpha-aminoisobutyric acid, decreased under some, but not all, sporulation conditions.

Full text

PDF
1107

Selected References

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

  1. Berlin R. D., Stadtman E. R. A possible role of purine nucleotide pyrophosphorylases in the regulation of purine uptake by Bacillus subtilis. J Biol Chem. 1966 Jun 10;241(11):2679–2686. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cashel M. Regulation of bacterial ppGpp and pppGpp. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1975;29:301–318. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.29.100175.001505. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cooney P. H., Whiteman P. F., Freese E. Media dependence of commitment in Bacillus subtilis. J Bacteriol. 1977 Feb;129(2):901–907. doi: 10.1128/jb.129.2.901-907.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dalal F. R., Gots R. E., Gots J. S. Mechanism of adenine inhibition in adenine-sensitive mutants of Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol. 1966 Feb;91(2):507–513. doi: 10.1128/jb.91.2.507-513.1966. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Endo T., Uratani B., Freese E. Purine salvage pathways of Bacillus subtilis and effect of guanine on growth of GMP reductase mutants. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jul;155(1):169–179. doi: 10.1128/jb.155.1.169-179.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fast R. Isolation of Escherichia coli mutants with changed regulation of uracil uptake. J Bacteriol. 1978 Dec;136(3):839–843. doi: 10.1128/jb.136.3.839-843.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Freese E., Klofat W., Galliers E. Commitment to sporulation and induction of glucose-phosphoenolpyruvate-transferase. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1970 Nov 24;222(2):265–289. doi: 10.1016/0304-4165(70)90115-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gallant J. A. Stringent control in E. coli. Annu Rev Genet. 1979;13:393–415. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.13.120179.002141. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hochstadt-Ozer J., Cashel M. The regulation of purine utilization in bacteria. V. Inhibition of purine phosphoribosyltransferase activities and purine uptake in isolated membrane vesicles by guanosine tetraphosphate. J Biol Chem. 1972 Nov 10;247(21):7067–7072. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hochstadt J., Quinlan D. The function and activity of certain membrane enzymes when localized on- and off- the membrane. J Cell Physiol. 1976 Dec;89(4):839–852. doi: 10.1002/jcp.1040890452. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hochstadt J. The role of the membrane in the utilization of nucleic acid precursors. CRC Crit Rev Biochem. 1974 Mar;2(2):259–310. doi: 10.3109/10409237409105449. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Jensen K. F. Two purine nucleoside phosphorylases in Bacillus subtilis. Purification and some properties of the adenosine-specific phosphorylase. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1978 Aug 7;525(2):346–356. doi: 10.1016/0005-2744(78)90229-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lopez J. M., Dromerick A., Freese E. Response of guanosine 5'-triphosphate concentration to nutritional changes and its significance for Bacillus subtilis sporulation. J Bacteriol. 1981 May;146(2):605–613. doi: 10.1128/jb.146.2.605-613.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lopez J. M., Marks C. L., Freese E. The decrease of guanine nucleotides initiates sporulation of Bacillus subtilis. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1979 Oct 4;587(2):238–252. doi: 10.1016/0304-4165(79)90357-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Manoil C., Kaiser D. Accumulation of guanosine tetraphosphate and guanosine pentaphosphate in Myxococcus xanthus during starvation and myxospore formation. J Bacteriol. 1980 Jan;141(1):297–304. doi: 10.1128/jb.141.1.297-304.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Marz R., Wohlhueter R. M., Plagemann P. G. Purine and pyrimidine transport and phosphoribosylation and their interaction in overall uptake by cultured mammalian cells. A re-evaluation. J Biol Chem. 1979 Apr 10;254(7):2329–2338. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Molloy A., Finch L. R. Uridine-5'-monophosphate pyrophosphorylase activity from Escherichia coli. FEBS Lett. 1969 Nov 12;5(3):211–213. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(69)80334-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Munch-Petersen A., Mygind B. Nucleoside transport systems in Escherichia coli K12: specificity and regulation. J Cell Physiol. 1976 Dec;89(4):551–559. doi: 10.1002/jcp.1040890410. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Munch-Petersen A., Pihl N. J. Stimulatory effect of low ATP pools on transport of purine nucleosides in cells of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 May;77(5):2519–2523. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.5.2519. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Nishikawa H., Momose H., Shiio I. Pathway of purine nucleotide synthesis in Bacillus subtilis. J Biochem. 1968 Feb;63(2):149–155. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jbchem.a128755. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Ochi K., Kandala J. C., Freese E. Initiation of Bacillus subtilis sporulation by the stringent response to partial amino acid deprivation. J Biol Chem. 1981 Jul 10;256(13):6866–6875. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Vasantha N., Freese E. Enzyme changes during Bacillus subtilis sporulation caused by deprivation of guanine nucleotides. J Bacteriol. 1980 Dec;144(3):1119–1125. doi: 10.1128/jb.144.3.1119-1125.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES