A rapid screening test was recently established for the detection of mutations in the rpoB gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a region identified as the locus for rifampin resistance (Rifr). The detection method involved the amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the Rifr region and the identification of mutations by single-strand DNA conformation polymorphism analysis (SSCP) of the amplification products. Experience using two different PCR-SSCP formats for the evaluation of BACTEC cultures and sputum is presented here; the previously described manual procedure for the detection for the detection of radiolabelled amplification products and an automated SSCP by which fluorescein-labelled products were detected on a Pharmacia DNA sequencer apparatus. All 17 different Rifr mutations known to date were consistently detected. PCR-SSCP could be used for the evaluation of minimally grown cultures (BACTEC 12B medium with a growth index of < or = 100) and for direct screening of microscopically positive sputa with greater than 10 organisms per field (magnification, x250). Implementation of this technique could result in rapid detection of rifampin resistance in M. tuberculosis, a marker of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Chorismate mutase, a branch-point enzyme in the aromatic amino acid pathway of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and also a mutant chorismate mutase with a single amino acid substitution in the C-terminal part of the protein have been purified approximately 20-fold and 64-fold from overproducing strains, respectively. The wild-type enzyme is activated by tryptophan and subject to feedback inhibition by tyrosine, whereas the mutant enzyme does not respond to activation by tryptophan nor inhibition by tyrosine. Both enzymes are dimers consisting of two identical subunits of Mr 30,000, each one capable of binding one substrate and one activator molecule. Each subunit of the wild-type enzyme also binds one inhibitor molecule, whereas the mutant enzyme lost this ability. The enzyme reaction was observed by 1H NMR and shows a direct and irreversible conversion of chorismate to prephenate without the accumulation of any enzyme-free intermediates. The kinetic data of the wild-type chorismate mutase show positive cooperativity toward the substrate with a Hill coefficient of 1.71 and a [S]0.5 value of 4.0 mM. In the presence of the activator tryptophan, the cooperativity is lost. The enzyme has an [S]0.5 value of 1.2 mM in the presence of 10 microM tryptophan and an increased [S]0.5 value of 8.6 mM in the presence of 300 microM tyrosine. In the mutant enzyme, a loss of cooperativity was observed, and [S]0.5 was reduced to 1.0 mM. This enzyme is therefore locked in the activated state by a single amino acid substitution.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae ARO7 gene product chorismate mutase, a single-branch-point enzyme in the aromatic amino acid biosynthetic pathway, is activated by tryptophan and subject to feedback inhibition by tyrosine. The ARO7 gene was cloned on a 2.05-kilobase EcoRI fragment. Northern (RNA) analysis revealed a 0.95-kilobase poly(A)+ RNA, and DNA sequencing determined a 771-base-pair open reading frame capable of encoding a protein of 256 amino acids. In addition, three mutant alleles of ARO7 were cloned and sequenced. These encoded chorismate mutases which were unresponsive to tyrosine and tryptophan and were locked in the on state, exhibiting a 10-fold-increased basal enzyme activity. A single base pair exchange resulting in a threonine-to-isoleucine amino acid substitution in the C-terminal part of the chorismate mutase was found in all mutant strains. In contrast to other enzymes in this pathway, no significant homology between the monofunctional yeast chorismate mutase and the corresponding domains of the two bifunctional Escherichia coli enzymes was found.In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids is regulated either at the transcriptional or at the enzyme level. At the transcriptional level, the general control system is known to regulate at least 30 structural amino acid genes in various pathways, among them most of the ARO and TRP genes. This transcriptional control responds to amino acid starvation and results in an increased transcription rate of these genes through binding of the activator protein GCN4 (36). In contrast to many bacteria, no aromatic amino acid-specific regulation is known at the transcriptional level.At least four ARO and TRP gene products are also or exclusively regulated at the enzyme level (Fig. 1). The two isoenzymes 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase (EC 4.1.2.15) encoded by the genes AR03 and AR04 control the entrance of the shikimate pathway and are subject to feedback inhibition by the pathway end products phenylalanine and tyrosine, respectively (37). The TRP2 gene product anthranilate synthase (EC 4.1.3.27) and the AR07 gene product chorismate mutase (EC 5.4.99.5)