Dataset Information

Expression of phosphofructokinase in Neisseria meningitidis.

ABSTRACT: Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B is a pathogen that can infect diverse sites within the human host. According to the N. meningitidis genomic information and experimental observations, glucose can be completely catabolized through the Entner-Doudoroff pathway and the pentose phosphate pathway. The Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway is not functional, because the gene for phosphofructokinase (PFK) is not present. The phylogenetic distribution of PFK indicates that in most obligate aerobic organisms, PFK is lacking. We conclude that this is because of the limited contribution of PFK to the energy supply in aerobically grown organisms in comparison with the energy generated through oxidative phosphorylation. Under anaerobic or microaerobic conditions, the available energy is limiting, and PFK provides an advantage, which explains the presence of PFK in many (facultatively) anaerobic organisms. In accordance with this, in silico flux balance analysis predicted an increase of biomass yield as a result of PFK expression. However, analysis of a genetically engineered N. meningitidis strain that expressed a heterologous PFK showed that the yield of biomass on substrate decreased in comparison with a pfkA-deficient control strain, which was associated mainly with an increase in CO(2) production, whereas production of by-products was similar in the two strains. This might explain why the pfkA gene has not been obtained by horizontal gene transfer, since it is initially unfavourable for biomass yield. No large effects related to heterologous expression of pfkA were observed in the transcriptome. Although our results suggest that introduction of PFK does not contribute to a more efficient strain in terms of biomass yield, achievement of a robust, optimal metabolic network that enables a higher growth rate or a higher biomass yield might be possible after adaptive evolution of the strain, which remains to be investigated.

SUBMITTER: Baart GJE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2890083 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Expression of phosphofructokinase in Neisseria meningitidis.

Baart Gino J E GJE Langenhof Marc M van de Waterbeemd Bas B Hamstra Hendrik-Jan HJ Zomer Bert B van der Pol Leo A LA Beuvery E C EC Tramper Johannes J Martens Dirk E DE

Microbiology (Reading, England) 20091001 Pt 2

Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B is a pathogen that can infect diverse sites within the human host. According to the N. meningitidis genomic information and experimental observations, glucose can be completely catabolized through the Entner-Doudoroff pathway and the pentose phosphate pathway. The Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway is not functional, because the gene for phosphofructokinase (PFK) is not present. The phylogenetic distribution of PFK indicates that in most obligate aerobic organisms, ...[more]

PMID: 19797358

Similar Datasets

Project description:Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B is a pathogen that can infect diverse sites within the human host. According to the N. meningitidis genomic information and experimental observations glucose can be completely catabolized through the Entner-Doudoroff pathway and the pentose phosphate pathway. The Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway is not functional, because the gene for phosphofructokinase is not present. The phylogenetic distribution of phosphofructokinase indicates that in most obligate aerobic organisms PFK is lacking. We conclude that this is because of the limited contribution of PFK to the energy supply in aerobically grown organisms in comparison with the energy generated through oxidative phosphorylation. Under anaerobic or microaerobic conditions the available energy is limiting and PFK provides an advantage, which explains the presence of PFK in many (facultative) anaerobic organisms. In accordance with this, in silico flux balance analysis predicted an increase of biomass yield as a result of PFK expression. However, analysis of a genetically engineered N. meningitidis strain that expresses a heterologous phosphofructokinase showed that the yield of biomass on substrate decreased in comparison with a pfkA deficient control strain, which was associated mainly with an increase in CO2 production, whereas production of by-products was comparable between the two strains. This might explain why the pfkA gene has not been obtained by horizontal gene transfer, since it is initially unfavourable for biomass yield. No large effects related to heterologous expression of pfkA were observed in the transcriptome. Although our results suggest that introduction of PFK does not contribute to a more efficient strain in terms of biomass yield, achievement of a robust, optimal metabolic network that enables a higher growth rate or a higher biomass yield, might be possible after adaptive evolution of the strain, which remains to be investigated. Two-condition experiment, 3 replicates per condition

Dataset Information

Expression of phosphofructokinase in Neisseria meningitidis.

Publications

Expression of phosphofructokinase in Neisseria meningitidis.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure