Joosten, Han M.L.J.; Herst, Patricia M.; Drift, Chris Van Der
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Groningen University of Groningen Characterization of Glutamine-Requiring Mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Janssen, Dick B.; Joosten, Han M.L.J.; Herst, Patricia M.; Drift, Chris van der Published in: Archives of Microbiology IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 1982 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Janssen, D. B., Joosten, H. M. L. J., Herst, P. M., & Drift, C. V. D. (1982). Characterization of Glutamine- Requiring Mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Archives of Microbiology, 131(4). Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 12-11-2019 JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY, Sept. 1982, p. 1176-1183 Vol. 151, No. 3 0021-9193/82/091176-08$02.00/0 Copyright © 1982, American Society for Microbiology Characterization of Glutamine-Requiring Mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa DICK B. JANSSEN,* HAN M. L. J. JOOSTEN, PATRICIA M. HERST, AND CHRIS VAN DER DRIFT Department ofMicrobiology, Faculty of Science, University ofNijmegen, Toernooiveld, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands Received 1 March 1982/Accepted 26 May 1982 Revertants were isolated from a glutamine-requiring mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO. One strain showed thermosensitive glutamine requirement and formed thermolabile glutamine synthetase, suggesting the presence of a mutation in the structural gene for glutamine synthetase. The mutation conferring glutamine auxotrophy was subsequently mapped and found to be located at about 15 min on the chromosomal map, close to and before hisII4. Furthermore, in transduction experiments, it appeared to be very closely linked to gln-2022, a suppressor mutation affecting nitrogen control. With immunological techniques, it could be demonstrated that the glutamine auxotrophs form an inactive glutamine synthe- tase protein which is regulated by glutamine or a product derived from it in a way similar to other nitrogen-controlled proteins. Nitrogen control, that is, regulation ofenzyme genes claimed to be involved in nitrogen control. formation by the availability of ammonia, has The glnF gene, whose product is unknown, was been demonstrated for a number of enzymes in found to be required for glutamine synthetase Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It includes enzymes production and proper derepression of other involved in the utilization of urea (17), histidine proteins subject to nitrogen control (7, 8). The (21, 27), arginine (25), acetamide (16), nitrate glnB gene encodes the PI, regulatory protein in reductase (31), and also proteins that are respon- the glutamine synthetase adenylylation system sible for the formation of glutamate and gluta- and has been reported to be required for gluta- mine (2, 15, 17). We have shown previously that mine synthetase derepression (6, 29). Finally, glutamine or some compound derived from it the presence of a regulatory gene, called glnG plays a major role in the regulation of proteins (26), glnR (19), or ntrC (24, 28) and located close that are subject to nitrogen control (15). This to the structural gene for glutamine synthetase, conclusion was based on the observation that g1nA, has been demonstrated. Mutations in this glutamine synthetase-negative mutants were im- regulatory gene caused a loss of the ability to paired in the repression of urease and histidase derepress glutamine synthetase and other nitro- by excess ammonia, whereas NADP-dependent gen-controlled proteins. They were also ob- glutamate dehydrogenase was not elevated. tained as suppressors from mutations in glnF Only growth with excess glutamine, which could (19, 24). Recently, the product of glnG has been be obtained in a mutant with reduced conversion identified as a 55,000-dalton protein (1, 24). of glutamine, caused repression of urease and Probably, glnG (1) and ntrC (24) are separated histidase and derepression of NADP-dependent from gInA by a third gene which also can harbor glutamate dehydrogenase synthesis. mutations that affect nitrogen control. The prod- We have also obtained mutants from Pseudo- uct of this gene is a 36,000-dalton protein (24). monas aeruginosa that show disturbed nitrogen The two regulatory genes and the glutamine control (14). These mutants could not utilize a synthetase structural gene were found to be part number of amino acids and did not show dere- of one operon, transcribed in the direction from pression of urease and glutamine synthetase glnA to gInG (1). formation under nitrogen limitation, whereas It is completely unknown whether the mecha- NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase was nism for nitrogen control in P. aeruginosa has not repressed. Suppression of this phenotype by similarities to the system of enteric bacteria. In mutation at another chromosomal site was ob- this paper, we present some properties of gluta- served, and both mutations were mapped on the mine synthetase-negative mutants that may be chromosome. relevant to the understanding of nitrogen control In enteric bacteria, there are at least three in P. aeruginosa. 1176 VOL. 151, 1982 GLUTAMINE-REQUIRING MUTANTS OF P. AERUGINOSA 1177 MATERIALS AND METHODS TABLE 1. Strains of P. aeruginosa Organisms. All bacterial strains used are derivatives Strain Genotype Comments (reference) of P. aeruginosa PAO1 (Table 1). Strain PA02175 (23) was the wild-type strain from which the glutamine PA0222 ilvB/C226 hisII4 (9) synthetase-negative mutants PA04501 and PA04506 lys-12 trp-6 (formerly PAO4001 and PA04006, respectively), were met-28 proA82 derived (15). Strains. plasmids, and phages for genetic PA0303 argB18 (13) experiments were kindly donated by B. Holloway PA02175 met-9020 catAl (23) (Monash University, Clayton, Australia) and D. Haas PA04501 met-9020 catAl (15) (ETH, Zurich, Switzerland). glnA2001 Growth media. Liquid synthetic media contained PA04502 met-9020 catAl (15) (per liter): 4.3 g ofNa2HPO4 * 2H20, 2.2 g of KH2PO4, glnA2002 0.4 g of MgSO4 * 7H20, and 1.8 mg of FeSO4 * 7H20. PA04503 met-9020 catAl (15) Trisodium citrate * 2H20 (1%) was used as the carbon glnA2003 source, and a nitrogen source was added as indicated. PA04504 met-9020 catAl (15) The pH after sterilization was 7.0. glnA2004 For solid media, the minimal medium of Vogel and PA04505 met-9020 catAl (15) Bonner (33) was used. Amino acids were added at 1 glnA2005 mM when necessary, except glutamine, which was PA04506 met-9020 catAl (15) used at 0.2%. Glutamine solutions were always pre- glnA2006 pared freshly and filter sterilized. PA04508 met-9020 catAl Revertant of Growth conditions. For experiments in which en- glnA2008 PA04501 zyme formation was studied, growth media were in- PA04510 ilvB/C226 hisIVS9 (14) oculated with washed and diluted precultures on nutri- Iys-12 ent broth plus glutamine. Cultures were grown PA04516 ilvB/C226 hisII4 Met+ transductant overnight at 37°C and harvested at an optical density at lys-12 trp-6 of PA0222 x 600 nm of 0.3 to 0.6. Glutamine limitation was proA82 F116L (PAO1) achieved by adding glutamine at a growth-limiting rate PA04519 ilvBIC226 hisII4 (18) as described previously (15). lys-12 trp-6 Isolation of revertants. Revertants from strain PA04522 met-9020 catAl GlnRC phenotype PA04501 were obtained after mutagenesis. A precul- gln-2020 gln- (17) ture of PA04501 on nutrient broth plus glutamine was 2022 divided into 40 1-ml portions and treated with 10 ,ul of PAO4550 leu-8 glnA2001 (16) ethylmethane sulfonate per ml for 1 h at 37°C without PAO4551 glnA2001 Arg+ Gln- recom- shaking. After overnight growth on nutrient broth plus binant of glutamine, samples were spread on nutrient broth PA0303 x plates and incubated at 30°C. Revertants were picked PAO4501(R68.45) off after 3 days and purified on the same medium. Twenty-four independent revertants were obtained. Enzyme assays. Glutamine synthetase activities Transconjugants and transductants obtained in map- were estimated in crude extracts prepared by sonica- ping experiments were tested by replica plating for tion in IMMK buffer (10 mM imidazole-hydrochloride auxotrophic markers. The GlnRC phenotype, which is [pH 7.1], 2 mM MnCl2, 1 mM P-mercaptoethanol, and characterized by derepressed urease and glutamine 100 mM KCl). The assays were carried out at pH 7.9 synthetase syntheses in the presence of ammonia, was as described previously (15, 17). Glutaminase was tested with a urease spot assay as described previously measured in crude extracts prepared in 10 mM Tris- (14). Thermosensitive glutamine auxotrophy was de- hydrochloride (pH 7.2) containing 100 mM KCl. Activ- termined by testing the growth on plates containing no ities were measured by following the conversion of -y- glutamine at 30 and 42°C. glutamylhydroxamate according to Brown and Tata Purification of glutamine synthetase. Glutamine syn- (3). Protein concentrations were measured by the thetase was purified from strain PA02175 grown on method of Lowry et al. (22), using bovine serum citrate medium supplemented with 0.2% KNO3 as a albumin as a standard. nitrogen source. Crude extract was prepared by soni- Genetic techniques. In conjugation experiments, cation (15) in IMMK buffer, which was also used R68.45 was used as the chromosome-mobilizing plas- during the isolation of the enzyme.