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The carbamate kinase-like carbamoyl phosphate synthetase of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, a missing link in the evolution of carbamoyl phosphate biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: Microbial carbamoyl phosphate synthetases (CPS) use glutamine as nitrogen donor and are composed of two subunits (or domains), one exhibiting glutaminase activity, the other able to synthesize carbamoyl phosphate (CP) from bicarbonate, ATP, and ammonia. The pseudodimeric organization of this synthetase suggested that it has evolved by duplication of a smaller kinase, possibly a carbamate kinase (CK). In contrast to other prokaryotes the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus was found to synthesize CP by using ammonia and not glutamine. We have purified the cognate enzyme and found it to be a dimer of two identical subunits of Mr 32,000. Its thermostability is considerable, 50% activity being retained after 1 h at 100 degrees C or 3 h at 95 degrees C. The corresponding gene was cloned by PCR and found to present about 50% amino acid identity with known CKs. The stoichiometry of the reaction (two ATP consumed per CP synthesized) and the ability of the enzyme to catalyze at high rate a bicarbonate-dependent ATPase reaction however clearly distinguish P. furiosus CPS from ordinary CKs. Thus the CPS of P. furiosus could represent a primeval step in the evolution of CPS from CK. Our results suggest that the first event in this evolution was the emergence of a primeval synthetase composed of subunits able to synthesize both carboxyphosphate and CP; this step would have preceded the duplication assumed to have generated the two subdomains of modern CPSs. The gene coding for this CK-like CPS was called cpkA.

SUBMITTER: Durbecq V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC24219 | biostudies-literature | 1997 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The carbamate kinase-like carbamoyl phosphate synthetase of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, a missing link in the evolution of carbamoyl phosphate biosynthesis.

Durbecq V V Legrain C C Roovers M M Piérard A A Glansdorff N N

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 19971101 24

Microbial carbamoyl phosphate synthetases (CPS) use glutamine as nitrogen donor and are composed of two subunits (or domains), one exhibiting glutaminase activity, the other able to synthesize carbamoyl phosphate (CP) from bicarbonate, ATP, and ammonia. The pseudodimeric organization of this synthetase suggested that it has evolved by duplication of a smaller kinase, possibly a carbamate kinase (CK). In contrast to other prokaryotes the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus was found to ...[more]

PMID: 9371756

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Project description:Oxidative Stress Protection and the Repair Response To Hydrogen Peroxide in the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus Pyrococcus furiosus is a shallow marine, anaerobic archaeon that grows optimally at 100Â°C. Addition of H2O2 (0.5 mM) to a growing culture resulted in cessation of growth with a 2 hour lag before normal growth resumed. Whole genome transcriptional profiling revealed that the main response occurs within 30 min of peroxide addition, with the up-regulation of 62 open reading frames (ORFs), 36 of which are part of 10 potential operons. More than half of the up-regulated ORFs are of unknown function while some others encode proteins that are involved potentially in sequestering iron and sulfide, in DNA repair and in generating NADPH. This response is thought to involve primarily damage repair rather than protection, since cultures exposed to sub-toxic levels of H2O2 were not more resistant to the subsequent addition of H2O2 (0.5 â 5.0 mM). Consequently, there is little if any induced protective response to peroxide, rather, the organism maintains a constitutive protective mechanism involving high levels of oxidoreductase-type enzymes such as superoxide reductase, rubrerythrin and alkyl hydroperoxide reductase I. The related hyperthermophiles P. woesei and Thermococcus kodakaraensis were more sensitive to peroxide than P. furiosus, apparently due to the lack of several of its peroxide-responsive ORFs. Pyrococcus furiosus (DSM 3638) was grown at 95Â°C in a 20-liter fermentor using maltose as the carbon and energy source. An exponential-phase culture of P. furiosus that had undergone three successive transfers in the experimental medium was used to inoculate the 20-liter fermentor. The culture was shocked with 0.5 mM of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) when cell density was in mid-exponential phase (~ 5.0 Â´ 107 cells/ml, as determined by direct microscopic cell count). To obtain RNA for microarray and for quantitative PCR (QPCR) analyses, samples (2 liter) were rapidly removed from the fermentor and cooled to 4Â°C. Total RNA was extracted using acid-phenol and stored at -80Â°C until needed. A total of 3 biological replicates in triplicate (3 copies on the same slide) was used in the data set.

Dataset Information

The carbamate kinase-like carbamoyl phosphate synthetase of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, a missing link in the evolution of carbamoyl phosphate biosynthesis.

Publications

The carbamate kinase-like carbamoyl phosphate synthetase of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, a missing link in the evolution of carbamoyl phosphate biosynthesis.

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