Effects of Limited Aeration and of the ArcAB System on Intermediary Pyruvate Catabolism in Escherichia coli (original) (raw)
Related papers
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2010
During anaerobic growth of Escherichia coli, pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) channel pyruvate toward a mixture of fermentation products. We have introduced a third branch at the pyruvate node in a mutant of E. coli with a mutation in pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH*) that renders the enzyme less sensitive to inhibition by NADH. The key starting enzymes of the three branches at the pyruvate node in such a mutant, PDH*, PFL, and LDH, have different metabolic potentials and kinetic properties. In such a mutant (strain QZ2), pyruvate flux through LDH was about 30%, with the remainder of the flux occurring through PFL, indicating that LDH is a preferred route of pyruvate conversion over PDH*. In a pfl mutant (strain YK167) with both PDH* and LDH activities, flux through PDH* was about 33% of the total, confirming the ability of LDH to outcompete the PDH pathway for pyruvate in vivo. Only in the absence of LDH (strain QZ3) was pyruvate carbon equally distributed b...
Journal of bacteriology, 1999
Escherichia coli MC4100 was grown in anaerobic glucose-limited chemostat cultures, either in the presence of an electron acceptor (fumarate, nitrate, or oxygen) or fully fermentatively. The steady-state NADH/NAD ratio depended on the nature of the electron acceptor. Anaerobically, the ratio was highest, and it decreased progressively with increasing midpoint potential of the electron acceptor. Similarly, decreasing the dissolved oxygen tension resulted in an increased NADH/NAD ratio. As pyruvate catabolism is a major switch point between fermentative and respiratory behavior, the fluxes through the different pyruvate-consuming enzymes were calculated. Although pyruvate formate lyase (PFL) is inactivated by oxygen, it was inferred that the in vivo activity of the enzyme occurred at low dissolved oxygen tensions (DOT </= 1%). A simultaneous flux from pyruvate through both PFL and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHc) was observed. In anaerobic cultures with fumarate or nitrate ...
Effect of oxygen on theEscherichia coli ArcA and FNR regulation systems and metabolic responses
Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2005
Escherichia coli has several elaborate sensing mechanisms for response to the availability of oxygen and the presence of other electron acceptors. The adaptive responses are coordinated by a group of global regulators, which include the one-component Fnr protein, and the two-component Arc system. To quantitate the contribution of Arc and Fnr-dependent regulation in catabolism, arcA and fnr mutant strains were constructed using the recently developed lambda derived recombination system. The metabolic activity of wildtype E. coli, an arcA mutant, an fnr mutant, and a double arcA-fnr mutant, via the fermentative pathways in glucose-limited cultures and different oxygen concentrations was studied in chemostat cultures at steady state. It was found that the most significant role of ArcA is under microaerobic conditions, while that of FNR is under more strictly anaerobic conditions. The FNR protein is normally inactive during microaerobic conditions. However, our results indicate that in the arcA mutant strain the cells behave as if a higher level of the FNR regulator is in the activated form compared to the wildtype strain during the transition from aerobic to microanaerobic growth. The results show a significant increase in the flux through pyruvate formate lyase (PFL) in the presence of oxygen. The activity of FNR-regulated pathways in the arcA mutant strain is correlated with the high redox potential obtained under microaerobic growth. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Microbiology-sgm, 1992
NADH/NAD+ ratios and internal pyruvate concentrations were determined during switches between aerobic and anaerobic steady-state conditions of glucose-limited chemostat cultures of Enterococcus faecalis. During the switch experiments, changesin catabolic fluxes were observed: transition from anaerobic to aerobic conditions resulted in a complete and instantaneous conversion of glucose into acetate and COz via the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, while during a switch from aerobic to anaerobic conditions the culture became homolactic. A similar switch to a homolactic fermentation was observed upon release of the limitation by addition of a glucose pulse to the culture. In sharp contrast to this, a pyruvate pulse resulted in an increase of both pyruvate formate-lyase and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activity. Furthermore, acetoin was formed during a pyruvate pulse, probably due to a dramatic increase in internal pyruvate concentration. Regulation of the catabolic fluxes over the vari...
New Biotechnology, 2009
Escherichia coli has several elaborate sensing mechanisms for response to availability of oxygen and other electron acceptors, as well as the carbon source in the surrounding environment. Among them, the CreBC and ArcAB two-component signal transduction systems are responsible for regulation of carbon source utilization and redox control in response to oxygen availability, respectively. We assessed the role of CreBC and ArcAB in regulating the central carbon metabolism of E. coli under microaerobic conditions by means of 13 C-labeling experiments in chemostat cultures of a wild-type strain, ⌬creB and ⌬arcA single mutants, and a ⌬creB ⌬arcA double mutant. Continuous cultures were conducted at D ؍ 0.1 h ؊1 under carbon-limited conditions with restricted oxygen supply. Although all experimental strains metabolized glucose mainly through the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway, mutant strains had significantly lower fluxes in both the oxidative and the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathways. Significant differences were also found at the pyruvate branching point. Both pyruvate-formate lyase and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex contributed to acetyl-coenzyme A synthesis from pyruvate, and their activity seemed to be modulated by both ArcAB and CreBC. Strains carrying the creB deletion showed a higher biomass yield on glucose compared to the wild-type strain and its ⌬arcA derivative, which also correlated with higher fluxes from building blocks to biomass. Glyoxylate shunt and lactate dehydrogenase were active mainly in the ⌬arcA strain. Finally, it was observed that the tricarboxylic acid cycle reactions operated in a rather cyclic fashion under our experimental conditions, with reduced activity in the mutant strains.
Journal of Bacteriology, 2009
Escherichia coli has several elaborate sensing mechanisms for response to availability of oxygen and other electron acceptors, as well as the carbon source in the surrounding environment. Among them, the CreBC and ArcAB two-component signal transduction systems are responsible for regulation of carbon source utilization and redox control in response to oxygen availability, respectively. We assessed the role of CreBC and ArcAB in regulating the central carbon metabolism of E. coli under microaerobic conditions by means of 13 C-labeling experiments in chemostat cultures of a wild-type strain, ⌬creB and ⌬arcA single mutants, and a ⌬creB ⌬arcA double mutant. Continuous cultures were conducted at D ؍ 0.1 h ؊1 under carbon-limited conditions with restricted oxygen supply. Although all experimental strains metabolized glucose mainly through the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway, mutant strains had significantly lower fluxes in both the oxidative and the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathways. Significant differences were also found at the pyruvate branching point. Both pyruvate-formate lyase and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex contributed to acetyl-coenzyme A synthesis from pyruvate, and their activity seemed to be modulated by both ArcAB and CreBC. Strains carrying the creB deletion showed a higher biomass yield on glucose compared to the wild-type strain and its ⌬arcA derivative, which also correlated with higher fluxes from building blocks to biomass. Glyoxylate shunt and lactate dehydrogenase were active mainly in the ⌬arcA strain. Finally, it was observed that the tricarboxylic acid cycle reactions operated in a rather cyclic fashion under our experimental conditions, with reduced activity in the mutant strains.
Biotechnology Progress, 1990
Escherichia coli HB101 was grown in complex medium under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Cells prepared under these two different conditions were characterized by two‐dimensional protein gel electrophoresis, by NMR measurements under identical (anaerobic) conditions, and by measuring the kinetics of glucose uptake and catabolite end‐product appearance in the medium under identical anaerobic conditions. Specific rates of glucose uptake and end‐product formation were significantly greater for the anaerobically grown cells, which also exhibited lower intracellular concentrations of sugar phosphates, nucleoside di‐and triphosphates, UDPG, and NAD(H). Two‐dimensional gel electrophoretic analyses reveal changes in the intracellular levels of proteins involved in pyruvate catabolism that have been observed previously for E. coli grown in minimal medium under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Enzymes involved in the TCA cycle were not detected in cells grown aerobically or anaerobically i...
Journal of Bacteriology, 2004
During anaerobic growth of bacteria, organic intermediates of metabolism, such as pyruvate or its derivatives, serve as electron acceptors to maintain the overall redox balance. Under these conditions, the ATP needed for cell growth is derived from substrate-level phosphorylation. In Escherichia coli, conversion of glucose to pyruvate yields 2 net ATPs, while metabolism of a pentose, such as xylose, to pyruvate only yields 0.67 net ATP per xylose due to the need for one (each) ATP for xylose transport and xylulose phosphorylation. During fermentative growth, E. coli produces equimolar amounts of acetate and ethanol from two pyruvates, and these reactions generate one additional ATP from two pyruvates (one hexose equivalent) while still maintaining the overall redox balance. Conversion of xylose to acetate and ethanol increases the net ATP yield from 0.67 to 1.5 per xylose. An E. coli pfl mutant lacking pyruvate formate lyase cannot convert pyruvate to acetyl coenzyme A, the required...
FEMS Microbiology Letters, 1991
Enterococcus faecalis was grown under anaerobic conditions in chemostat cultures on energy sources with different degrees of reduction (i.e. mannitol, glucose, pyruvate) at various culture pH values. Intracellular NADH/NAD ratios were measured and were found to be influenced both by the nature of the energy source and by the culture pH value. Highest ratios were found with mannitol as energy source and with high culture pH values. A role for the redox potential of the NADH/NAD couple as a regulatory effector is suggested by a correlation of the redox potential with the in vivo distribution of the carbon flux between pyruvate formate lyase and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.
Journal of Bacteriology, 2003
In Escherichia coli, the two-component regulatory ArcAB system functions as a major control system for the regulation of expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in both aerobic and anaerobic catabolic pathways. Previously, we have described the physiological response of wild-type E. coli to changes in oxygen availability through the complete range from anaerobiosis to full aerobiosis (S. Alexeeva, B. de Kort, G. Sawers, K. ). Here, we address the question of the contribution of the ArcAB-dependent transcriptional regulation to this response. Wild-type E. coli and a mutant lacking the ArcA regulator were grown in glucose-limited chemostat cultures at controlled levels of oxygen availability ranging from full aerobiosis to complete anaerobiosis. A flux analysis of the distribution of catabolic fluxes over parallel pathways was carried out, and the intracellular redox state (as reflected by the NADH/NAD ratio) was monitored for all steady states. Deletion of ArcA neither significantly altered the in vivo activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and pyruvate formate lyase nor significantly affected catabolism under fully aerobic and fully anaerobic conditions. In contrast, profound effects of the absence of ArcA were seen under conditions of oxygen-restricted growth: increased respiration, an altered electron flux distribution over the cytochrome o-and d-terminal oxidases, and a significant change in the intracellular redox state were observed. Thus, the ArcA regulator was found to exert major control on flux distribution, and it is concluded that the ArcAB system should be considered a microaerobic redox regulator.