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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1985 Jun;82(11):3601–3605. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.11.3601

Regulation of methionine synthesis in Escherichia coli: Effect of metJ gene product and S-adenosylmethionine on the expression of the metF gene

Robert Shoeman *, Betty Redfield *, Timothy Coleman *, Ronald C Greene , Albert A Smith , Nathan Brot *, Herbert Weissbach *
PMCID: PMC397833  PMID: 16593564

Abstract

The regulation of the expression of the Escherichia coli metF gene, which codes for 5,10-methylenetet-rahydrofolate reductase (EC 1.1.99.15), has been investigated by using a simplified DNA-directed in vitro system that measures the formation of the first dipeptide (fMet-Ser) of the gene product. The synthesis of fMet-Ser directed by a plasmid containing the metF gene is specifically inhibited by metJ protein (repressor protein). S-Adenosylmethionine enhances the inhibition by the metJ protein of metF gene expression. The inhibition by the metJ protein is at the level of transcription and the results suggest that S-adenosylmethionine is functioning as an allosteric effector.

Keywords: 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase; methionine repression

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Selected References

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