The suhB gene is located at 55 min on the Escherichia coli chromosome and encodes a protein of 268 amino acids. Mutant alleles of suhB have been isolated as extragenic suppressors for the protein secretion mutation (secY24), the heat shock response mutation (rpoH15), and the DNA synthesis mutation (dnaB121) (K. Shiba, K. Ito, and T. Yura, J. Bacteriol. 160:696-701, 1984; R. Yano, H. Nagai, K. Shiba, and T. Yura, J. Bacteriol. 172:2124-2130, 1990; S. Chang, D. Ng, L. Baird, and C. Georgopoulos, J. Biol. Chem. 266:3654-3660, 1991). These mutant alleles of suhB cause cold-sensitive cell growth, indicating that the suhB gene is essential at low temperatures. Little work has been done, however, to elucidate the role of the product of suhB in a normal cell and the suppression mechanisms of the suhB mutations in the aforementioned mutants. The sequence similarity shared between the suhB gene product and mammalian inositol monophosphatase has prompted us to test the inositol monophosphatase activity of the suhB gene product. We report here that the purified SuhB protein showed inositol monophosphatase activity. The kinetic parameters of SuhB inositol monophosphatase (K m ؍ 0.071 mM; V max ؍ 12.3 mol/min per mg) are similar to those of mammalian inositol monophosphatase. The ssyA3 and suhB2 mutations, which were isolated as extragenic suppressors for secY24 and rpoH15, respectively, had a DNA insertion at the 5 proximal region of the suhB gene, and the amount of SuhB protein within mutant cells decreased. The possible role of suhB in E. coli is discussed.The suhB gene was first identified as the locus for the ssyA3(Cs) mutation that was isolated as an extragenic suppressor for the secY24(Ts) mutant (31). The ssyA3 mutation restored the defect in protein secretion caused by the secY24 mutation (33) and rescued the temperature-sensitive cell growth of secY24 mutant cells. The ssyA3 mutation caused cold-sensitive cell growth by itself and impaired protein synthesis was observed in the ssyA3 mutant at low temperatures (31). The cold-sensitive growth of the ssyA3 mutant was rescued by introduction of the wild-type copy of suhB, indicating that ssyA3 is a mutant allele of suhB (40). The suhB2(Cs) mutation is another allele of suhB and was isolated as an extragenic suppressor of the rpoH15(Ts) mutation. The rpoH15 mutant gene produces an altered 32 protein and causes a defect in the induction of heat shock proteins at higher temperatures (42). The suhB2(Cs) mutation rescued the temperature-sensitive cell growth of the rpoH15 mutant and partially restored heat shock induction in the mutant cell (40). A coldsensitive mutation was also mapped in the suhB locus as an extragenic suppressor for the dnaB121(Ts) mutation that inhibits replication of phage (2). Thus, mutant alleles of suhB have effects on diverse cell activities, including protein export, stress response, and DNA replication.The suhB gene encodes a protein of 268 amino acids (40), and the primary structure of its translated product shows a high level of similarity t...
