• BMB Reports
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.458-463
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• 1995

Two apparent rho-independent transcription terminator structures within the coding sequence of aceK have been destroyed to access their roles in the differential expression between aceA and aceK in the glyoxylate bypass operon of E. coli. The effect of mutations on the expression of aceK was evaluated in two different ways: one by maxicell labeling and the other by lacZ fusion gene construction. The maxicell labeling experiment with the mutant operon clones has failed, like that of the wild type operon clone, to visibly show isocitrate dehrogenase (IDH) kinase/phosphatase, the product of aceK, on the autoradiogram of a protein gel. When the same mutations were introduced into an aceK::lacZ fusion gene to quantitatively evaluate the mutational effect, the activity of ${\beta}-galactosidase$ in neither of the mutant versions of the fusion gene was elevated significantly enough to explain the degree of polarity observed in this region. Thus, we conclude that neither of these intragenic, apparent rho-independent transcription terminator structures, which have long been suspected as a major determinant in the down regulation of aceK, really act as a premature transcriptional terminator.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제32권12호
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• pp.1527-1536
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• 2022

Escherichia coli can use allantoin as its sole nitrogen source under anaerobic conditions. The ureidoglycolate produced by double release of ammonia from allantoin can flow into either the glyoxylate shunt or further catabolic transcarbamoylation. Although the former pathway is well studied, the genes of the latter (catabolic) pathway are not known. In the catabolic pathway, ureidoglycolate is finally converted to carbamoyl phosphate (CP) and oxamate, and then CP is dephosphorylated to carbamate by a catabolic carbamate kinase (CK), whereby ATP is formed. We identified the ybcF gene in a gene cluster containing fdrA-ylbE-ylbF-ybcF that is located downstream of the allDCE-operon. Reverse transcription PCR of total mRNA confirmed that the genes fdrA, ylbE, ylbF, and ybcF are co-transcribed. Deletion of ybcF caused only a slight increase in metabolic flow into the glyoxylate pathway, probably because CP was used to de novo synthesize pyrimidine and arginine. The activity of the catabolic CK was analyzed using purified YbcF protein. The V_max is 1.82 U/mg YbcF for CP and 1.94 U/mg YbcF for ADP, and the K_M value is 0.47 mM for CP and 0.43 mM for ADP. With these results, it was experimentally revealed that the ybcF gene of E. coli encodes catabolic CK, which completes anaerobic allantoin degradation through substrate-level phosphorylation. Therefore, we suggest renaming the ybcF gene as allK.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권10호
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• pp.1127-1134
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• 2009

Escherichia coli excretes acetate during aerobic growth on glycolytic carbon sources, which has been explained as an overflow metabolism when the carbon flux into the cell exceeds the capacity of central metabolic pathways. Nonacetogenic growth of E. coli on gluconeogenic carbon sources like succinate or in carbon-limited slow growth conditions is believed an evidence for the explanation. However, we found that a strain defected in the acs (acetyl Co-A synthetase) gene, the product of which is involved in scavenging acetate, accumulated acetate even in succinate medium and in carbon-limited low growth rate condition, where as its isogenic parental strain did not. The acs promoter was inducible in noncatabolite repression condition, whereas the expression of the ackA-pta operon encoding acetate kinase and phosphotransacetylase for acetate synthesis was constitutive. Results in this study suggest that E. coli excretes and scavenges acetate simultaneously in the carbon-limited low growth condition and in nonacetogenic carbon source, and the activity of the acetate consumption pathway directly affects the accumulation level of acetate in the culture broth.