Glc) and catabolite repression mediated by the global regulator cyclic AMP (cAMP)-cAMP receptor protein (CRP). We measured in a systematic way the relation between cellular growth rates and the key parameters of catabolite repression, i.e., the phosphorylated EIIA Crr (EIIA Crr ϳP) level and the cAMP level, using in vitro and in vivo assays. Different growth rates were obtained by using either various carbon sources or by growing the cells with limited concentrations of glucose, sucrose, and mannitol in continuous bioreactor experiments. The ratio of EIIA Crr to EIIA Crr ϳP and the intracellular cAMP concentrations, deduced from the activity of a cAMP-CRP-dependent promoter, correlated well with specific growth rates between 0.3 h ؊1 and 0.7 h ؊1 , corresponding to generation times of about 138 and 60 min, respectively. Below and above this range, these parameters were increasingly uncoupled from the growth rate, which perhaps indicates an increasing role executed by other global control systems, in particular the stringent-relaxed response system.In Escherichia coli, the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent phosphotransferase systems (PTSs) represent important uptake systems for a number of carbohydrates which mediate transport and concomitant phosphorylation of their respective substrates (10,44). In addition to their transport function, all components of the various PTSs of a cell form an important signal transduction system. The signal transduction properties of the PTS depend on the phosphorylation state of its proteins (26,49). The PTSs usually consist of two general proteins, i.e., the PEP-dependent protein kinase enzyme I (EI), and the histidine-containing protein (HPr), and up to 20 different, substrate-specific enzymes II (EII). EII usually comprise two soluble domains EIIA and EIIB involved in phosphotransfer and the membrane-bound transporter domain EIIC (44). The major regulatory output signal of the PTS depends on the phosphorylation level of EIIA Crr (according to its genetic nomenclature), also designated EIIA Glc due to its function as the EIIA domain for the glucose-specific PTS (9, 23, 52). EIIA Crr inhibits the activity of a number of non-PTS transporters and enzymes (8,32,33,35,36), a process referred to as inducer exclusion. Furthermore, the phosphorylated form of EIIA Crr (EIIA Crr ϳP) activates adenylate cyclase (1, 13, 41, 57), which in turn synthesizes cyclic AMP (cAMP) (59). The indicator molecule or alarmone cAMP is the coactivator of the important global transcription factor CRP (cAMP receptor protein). Together, they regulate in a process called cAMP-CRP-dependent catabolite repression efficient transcription of different genes involved in the synthesis of a large number of catabolic enzymes (4,39,43). The central role of EIIA Crr ϳP in the activation of adenylate cyclase is largely based on mutant analysis (13,23,33).The phosphorylation state of the PTS and hence the intracellular cAMP concentrations are postulated to depend largely on two major factors: (i) the uptake rate of any P...

A dynamic mathematical model was developed to describe the uptake of various carbohydrates (glucose, lactose, glycerol, sucrose, and galactose) in Escherichia coli. For validation a number of isogenic strains with defined mutations were used. By considering metabolic reactions as well as signal transduction processes influencing the relevant pathways, we were able to describe quantitatively the phenomenon of catabolite repression in E. coli. We verified model predictions by measuring time courses of several extraand intracellular components such as glycolytic intermediates, EII-A Crr phosphorylation level, both LacZ and PtsG concentrations, and total cAMP concentrations under various growth conditions. The entire data base consists of 18 experiments performed with nine different strains. The model describes the expression of 17 key enzymes, 38 enzymatic reactions, and the dynamic behavior of more than 50 metabolites. The different phenomena affecting the phosphorylation level of EIIA Crr , the key regulation molecule for inducer exclusion and catabolite repression in enteric bacteria, can now be explained quantitatively.Catabolite repression in Escherichia coli designates the observation that if different carbohydrates are present in a medium under unlimited conditions, one of them is usually taken up preferentially. Although the fundamental biochemical principles of the regulatory network have been revealed, a quantitative description of this growth behavior is still missing. The center of the regulatory network is formed by the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) 4 :carbohydrate phosphotransferase systems (PTS). These systems are involved in both transport and phosphorylation of a large number of carbohydrates, in movement toward these carbon sources (chemotaxis), and in regulation of a number of metabolic pathways (1-3). The PTS in E. coli consist of two common cytoplasmatic proteins, EI (enzyme I) and HPr (histidine-containing protein), as well as an array of carbohydrate-specific EII (enzyme II) complexes. Because all components of the PTS, depending on their phosphorylation status, can interact with various key regulator proteins, the output of the PTS is represented by the degree of phosphorylation of the proteins involved in phosphoryl group transfer, e.g. unphosphorylated EIIA Crr inhibits the uptake of other non-PTS carbohydrates by a process called inducer exclusion. Phosphorylated EIIA Crr activates the adenylate cyclase (CyaA) and leads to an increase in the intracellular cAMP level.Understanding the regulation of carbohydrate uptake requires a quantitative description of the PTS. In this context it is important that the degree of phosphorylation of EIIA Crr is proportional to the PEP/ pyruvate ratio, when no carbohydrates are transported (4) and the respective equilibrium constant is an upper boundary when the PTS is active (5). The PTS should therefore not be regarded as a measure for the transport of PTS substrates but more as a general measure for carbohydrate availability. One feature of our contribution...

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Chemotactic responses in Escherichia coli are typically mediated by transmembrane receptors that monitor chemoeffector levels with periplasmic binding domains and communicate with the flagellar motors through two cytoplasmic proteins, CheA and CheY. CheA autophosphorylates and then donates its phosphate to CheY, which in turn controls flagellar rotation. E. coli also exhibits chemotactic responses to substrates that are transported by the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS). Unlike conventional chemoreception, PTS substrates are sensed during their uptake and concomitant phosphorylation by the cell. The phosphoryl groups are transferred from PEP to the carbohydrates through two common intermediates, enzyme I (El) and phosphohistidine carrier protein (HPr), and then to sugar-specific enzymes II. We found that in mutant strains HPr-like (4) and somehow sensed as chemoeffectors during the uptake process (5, 6). PTSs consist of membraneassociated substrate-specific enzymes II (EIIs) and a common cytoplasmic phosphodonor relay (Fig. 1). EIls are phosphorylated at the expense of PEP through enzyme I (El), a histidine kinase, and a phosphohistidine carrier protein (HPr). During transport of PTS carbohydrates, phosphate groups are transferred through El and HPr to the appropriate ElI and finally to the substrate molecule as it enters the cell (for review, see ref. 7). This phospho-relay activity generates a signal that suppresses clockwise flagellar rotation, thereby extending swimming runs that carry the organism toward higher substrate concentrations (8).The signaling connection between the PTS and MCP chemotactic pathways has long been a mystery. MCPs are not required for PTS chemotaxis, but CheA and CheY are required (9-11), suggesting that PTS signals elicit flagellar responses by modulating phospho-CheY levels, possibly through control of CheA activity (12). E. coli has at least 15 Ells, each of which serves as the "chemoreceptor" for its transport substrates (7). However, neither the binding of substrate to an ElI nor the generation of intracellular carbohydrate-phosphate nor its subsequent degradation is sufficient to trigger a chemotactic response (5,6,10,13,14). In contrast, the common phospho-relay components El and HPr are necessary for uptake of all PTS carbohydrates and for chemotactic responses to them. Conceivably, the flagellar signal derives from an uptake-driven change in phosphate flux through these shared PTS components (6,15). This article describes in vivo and in vitro studies that indicate that the unphosphorylated form of El may be the long-sought missing link between the PTS and MCP phospho-relay circuits. Its signaling target appears to be the CheA kinase.

Glucose is the classical carbon source that is used to investigate the transport, metabolism, and regulation of nutrients in bacteria. Many physiological phenomena like nutrient limitation, stress responses, production of antibiotics, and differentiation are inextricably linked to nutrition. Over the years glucose transport systems have been characterized at the molecular level in more than 20 bacterial species. This review aims to provide an overview of glucose uptake systems found in the eubacterial kingdom. In addition, it will highlight the diverse and sophisticated regulatory features of glucose transport systems.

The PEP-dependent carbohydrate:phosphotransferase systems (PTSs) of enteric bacteria constitute a complex sensory system which involves as its central element a PEP-dependent His-protein kinase (Enzyme I). As a unit, the PTS comprises up to 20 different transporters per cell which correspond to its chemoreceptors for PTS carbohydrates, and several targeting subunits, which include in the low [G+C] Gram-positive bacteria an ancillary Ser/Thr-protein kinase. The PTS senses the presence of carbohydrates, in particular glucose, in the medium and the energy state of the cell, in the form of either the intracellular PEP-to-pyruvate ratio or the D-fructose-bisphosphate levels. This information is subsequently communicated to cellular targets, in particular those involved in the chemotactic response of the cell towards PTS carbohydrates, and in sensing glucose in the medium, using cAMP and several targeting subunits as intermediates. Peptide targeting subunits ensure the fast, transient, and yet accurate communication of the PTS with its more than hundred different targets, avoiding at the same time unwanted cross-talk. Many elements of this sensory system are simultaneously elements of specific and global regulatory networks. Thus, the PTS controls, besides the immediate (in the ms to s range) chemotactic responses, the activity of the various carbohydrate transporters and enzymes involved in carbon and energy metabolism through inducer exclusion, and in a delayed response (in the min to h range) the synthesis of these transporters and catabolic enzymes through catabolite repression. Indirect consequences of this program are phenomena related to cell surface rearrangements, which include flagella synthesis, as well as memory, adaptation, and learning effects. The analogy between the PTS and other prokaryotic systems, and more complex sensory systems from eukaryotic organisms which share elements with regulatory systems is obvious.

In Escherichia coli K-12, the major glucose transporter with a central role in carbon catabolite repression and in inducer exclusion is the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent glucose:phosphotransferase system (PTS). Its membrane-bound subunit, IICB Glc , is encoded by the gene ptsG; its soluble domain, IIA Glc, is encoded by crr, which is a member of the pts operon. The system is inducible by D-glucose and, to a lesser degree, by L-sorbose. The regulation of ptsG transcription was analyzed by testing the induction of IICB Glc transporter activity and of a single-copy ⌽(ptsGop-lacZ) fusion. Among mutations found to affect directly ptsG expression were those altering the activity of adenylate cyclase (cyaA), the repressor DgsA (dgsA; also called Mlc), the general PTS proteins enzyme I (ptsI) and histidine carrier protein HPr (ptsH), and the IIA Glc and IIB Glc domains, as well as several authentic and newly isolated UmgC mutations. The latter, originally thought to map in the repressor gene umgC outside the ptsG locus, were found to represent ptsG alleles. These affected invariably the substrate specificity of the IICB Glc domain, thus allowing efficient transport and phosphorylation of substrates normally transported very poorly or not at all by this PTS. Simultaneously, all of these substrates became inducers for ptsG. From the analysis of the mutants, from cis-trans dominance tests, and from the identification of the amino acid residues mutated in the UmgC mutants, a new regulatory mechanism involved in ptsG induction is postulated. According to this model, the phosphorylation state of IIB Glc modulates IIC Glc which, directly or indirectly, controls the repressor DgsA and hence ptsG expression. By the same mechanism, glucose uptake and phosphorylation also control the expression of the pts operon and probably of all operons controlled by the repressor DgsA.In Escherichia coli K-12, D-glucose (Glc) is taken up and concomitantly phosphorylated either by the glucose-specific enzyme II (EII) transporter (II Glc ) or the mannose-specific EII transporter (II Man ) (genes manXYZ) of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) (for reviews, see references 10 and 21). As for most other PTS carbohydrates, the phosphoryl groups are sequentially transferred from PEP through two common intermediates, enzyme I (EI; gene: ptsI) and the phosphohistidine carrier protein (HPr; gene: ptsH), to sugar-specific EII (IICB Glc ; see below) and to glucose (for a review see reference 41). II Glc consists of two subunits, IIA Glc (crr [catabolite repression resistance]) and membrane-bound IICB Glc (ptsG) (8). The crr gene is part of the ptsHI crr operon (46) separated from the ptsG gene, which maps at 25.0 min (4). IIA Glc is a small hydrophilic protein which has, in addition to its transport function, a central regulatory role in carbon catabolite repression and inducer exclusion (for a review, see reference 22). The IICB Glc subunit is composed of an amino-terminal, hydrophobic IIC Glc domain, which large...

Although Escherichia coli strain EC3132 possesses a chromosomally encoded sucrose metabolic pathway, its growth on low sucrose concentrations (5 mM) is unusually slow, with a doubling time of 20 h. In this report we describe the subcloning and further characterization of the corresponding csc genes and adjacent genes. The csc regulon comprises three genes for a sucrose permease, a fructokinase, and a sucrose hydrolase (genes cscB, cscK, and cscA, respectively). The genes are arranged in two operons and are negatively controlled at the transcriptional level by the repressor CscR. Furthermore, csc gene expression was found to be cyclic AMPCrpA dependent. A comparison of the genomic sequences of the E. coli strains EC3132, K-12, and O157:H7 in addition to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2 revealed that the csc genes are located in a hot spot region for chromosomal rearrangements in enteric bacteria. The comparison further indicated that the csc genes might have been transferred relatively recently to the E. coli wild-type EC3132 at around the time when the different strains of the enteric bacteria diverged. We found evidence that a mobile genetic element, which used the gene argW for site-specific integration into the chromosome, was probably involved in this horizontal gene transfer and that the csc genes are still in the process of optimal adaptation to the new host. Selection for such adaptational mutants growing faster on low sucrose concentrations gave three different classes of mutants. One class comprised cscR(Con) mutations that expressed all csc genes constitutively. The second class constituted a cscKo operator mutation, which became inducible for csc gene expression at low sucrose concentrations. The third class was found to be a mutation in the sucrose permease that caused an increase in transport activity.