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. 1973 Apr;114(1):65–79. doi: 10.1128/jb.114.1.65-79.1973

Properties of an Inducible C4-Dicarboxylic Acid Transport System in Bacillus subtilis

Om K Ghei 1, William W Kay 2
PMCID: PMC251741  PMID: 4633350

Abstract

The transport of the tricarboxylic acid cycle C4-dicarboxylic acids was studied in both the wild-type strain and tricarboxylic acid cycle mutants of Bacillus subtilis. Active transport of malate, fumarate, and succinate was found to be inducible by these dicarboxylic acids or by precursors to them, whereas glucose or closely related metabolites catabolite-repressed their uptake. l-Malate was found to be the best dicarboxylic acid transport inducer in succinic dehydrogenase, fumarase, and malic dehydrogenase mutants. Succinate and fumarate are accumulated over 100-fold in succinic dehydrogenase and fumarase mutants, respectively, whereas mutants lacking malate dehydrogenase were unable to accumulate significant quantities of the C4-dicarboxylic acids. The stereospecificity of this transport system was studied from a comparison of the rates of competitive inhibition of both succinate uptake and efflux in a succinate dehydrogenase mutant by utilizing thirty dicarboxylic acid analogues. The system was specific for the C4-dicarboxylic acids of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, neither citrate nor α-ketoglutarate were effective competitive inhibitors. Of a wide variety of metabolic inhibitors tested, inhibiors of oxidative phosphorylation and of the formation of proton gradients were the most potent inhibitors of transport. From the kinetics of dicarboxylic acid transport (Km approximately 10−4 M for succinate or fumarate in succinic acid dehydrogenase and fumarase mutants) and from the competitive inhibition studies, it was concluded that an inducible dicarboxylic acid transport system mediates the entry of malate, fumarate, or succinate into B. subtilis. Mutants devoid of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase were shown to accumulate both α-ketoglutarate and glutamate, and these metabolites subsequently inhibited the transport of all the C4-dicarboxylic acids, suggesting a regulatory role.

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Selected References

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