Studies in Pseudomonas putida of the inducible degradation of hydroxyproline to a-ketoglutarate have indicated that either of the two epimers, hydroxy-L-proline or allohydroxy-D-proline, acts as an inducer of all the pathway enzymes. In a mutant lacking the first enzyme of the sequence, hydroxyproline-2-epimerase, which interconverts these two hydroxyproline epimers, either epimer is still equally active as an inducer of the remaining three enzymes, suggesting that each epimer has intrinsic inducer activity. The second and third enzymes of the sequence were induced coordinately. The induction process appeared to be insensitive to catabolite repression under a number of experimental conditions. The induced enzymes were stable even under conditions of nitrogen starvation and other conditions designed to increase protein turnover. In addition to inducing the degradative enzymes, the two hydroxyproline epimers were also found to induce an uptake system that concentrates hydroxyproline intracellularly. Either amino acid induced the uptake system for its epimer as well as for itself.

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Features of the transport system for hydroxyproline in a strain of Pseudomonas putida were studied. A mutant, lacking hydroxyproline-2 epimerase and unable to metabolize hydroxy-L-proline, was shown to transport and accumulate this compound after induction. Both entry and exit rates were examined, and kinetic constants for the reaction were determined. Increasing the induction time from 0.5 to 3 hr increased the entry rate threeto fourfold but had only a small and variable effect on the exit rate. Entry followed saturation kinetics. For hydroxy-L-proline, the Km and Vmax values were found to be 3 X 10-5 M and 6 jAmoles per g (dry weight) per min, respectively. The Km and Vmax for the epimer allohydroxy-D-proline were 10-J M and 0.1 jbmole per g (dry weight) per min. Entry rates into "loaded" and "unloaded" cells were found to be the same. Exit was shown to be first order over the range of internal substrate concentrations measured. Exit rates were measured by several different methods and found to be independent of external substrate concentration. The first-order exit rate constant was computed to be 0.23 min-'. Several metabolic inhibitors were examined for their effect on transport. The inhibitory action of N-ethyl maleimide was shown to be greatly reduced if cells were allowed to accumulate hydroxy-L-proline before exposure to the inhibitor. A number of other amino acids interfered with the transport of hydroxy-L-proline; the greatest effect was produced by L-alanine and L-proline.

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