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. 1976 Oct;128(1):39–48. doi: 10.1128/jb.128.1.39-48.1976

Structural and regulatory mutations allowing utilization of citrulline or carbamoylaspartate as a source of carbamoylphosphate in Escherichia coli K-12.

C Legrain, V Stalon, N Glansdorff, D Gigot, A Piéard, M Crabeel
PMCID: PMC232824  PMID: 789342

Abstract

Escherichia coli mutants lacking carbamoylphosphate synthase require arginine and uracil for growth. It is, however, possible to obtain mutants in which carbamoylphosphate is obtained by phosphorolysis of citrulline or carbamyolaspartate. Citrulline utilizers are argG bradytrophs or strains in which the synthesis of ornithine carbamoyltransferase (either of the F or I type) is specifically depressed by unstable chromosomal rearrangements or stable mutations that presumably affect the operators of those genes. Carbamoylaspartate utilization as a source of carbamoylphosphate appears to require more than one mutation; the best-understood strains are pyrD pyrH or pyrC pyrH mutants in which aspartate carbamoyltransferase activity is high and the pool of cytidine triphosphate (feedback inhibitor of aspartate carbamoyl-transferase) is presumably low and in which channeling of carbamoylaspartate towards pyrimidine biosynthesis is considerably reduced. Selection of enzyme overproducers based on a metabolic dependency for a reversed enzymatic reaction can be regarded as a means for isolating regulatory mutants.

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Selected References

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

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