The glutamate dehydrogenase RocG of Bacillus subtilis is a bifunctional protein with both enzymatic and regulatory functions. Here we show that the rocG null mutant is sensitive to -lactams, including cefuroxime (CEF), and to fosfomycin but that resistant mutants arise due to gain-of-function mutations in gudB, which encodes an otherwise inactive glutamate dehydrogenase. In the presence of CEF, ⌬rocG ⌬gudB mutant cells exhibit growth arrest when they reach mid-exponential phase. Using microarray-based transcriptional profiling, we found that the W regulon was downregulated in the ⌬rocG ⌬gudB null mutant. A survey of W -controlled genes for effects on CEF resistance identified both the NfeD protein YuaF and the flotillin homologue YuaG (FloT). Notably, overexpression of yuaFG in the rocG null mutant prevents the growth arrest induced by CEF. The YuaG flotillin has been shown previously to localize to defined lipid microdomains, and we show here that the yuaFGI operon contributes to a W -dependent decrease in membrane fluidity. We conclude that glutamate dehydrogenase activity affects the expression of the W regulon, by pathways that are yet unclear, and thereby influences resistance to CEF and other antibiotics.
In Bacillus subtilis, a model system for the Gram-positive bacteria (36), the synthesis of glutamate is catalyzed uniquely by the heterodimeric product of the gltAB operon. Glutamate acts as a central metabolite providing the link between carbon and nitrogen metabolism (11,40). The degradation of glutamate is catalyzed by the strictly catabolic glutamate dehydrogenase RocG (2). In addition to rocG, B. subtilis has a second glutamate dehydrogenase gene, gudB, whose product is cryptic due to an insertion of three amino acids close to the active site of this enzyme. However, null mutants of rocG rapidly accumulate spontaneous gain-offunction suppressor mutations in gudB that remove the repeat sequence encoding the three-amino-acid insertion, thereby resulting in the synthesis of active GudB (3,12).Recent studies have shown that RocG has a second activity as a regulatory protein. RocG, if glutamate is available, directly interacts with GltC, the transcription activator of the gltAB operon, thus inhibiting its activity (10, 15). However, whether it has additional functions remains largely unknown. In addition to RocG, several other bacterial enzymes are now known to regulate gene expression. Some act as transcription factors by direct binding to either DNA or RNA, and others modulate the activity of transcription factors either by covalent modification or by protein-protein interactions (9).Cefuroxime (CEF) belongs to the group of broad-spectrum -lactam cephalosporin antibiotics, with antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (31). The mode of action of CEF is conventional: by binding to specific penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), it inhibits the third and final stage of bacterial cell wall synthesis. In Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli, CEF shows high affin...