Project description:Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are major organic polycations essential for a wide spectrum of cellular processes. The cells require mechanisms to maintain homeostasis of intracellular polyamines to prevent otherwise severe adverse effects. We performed a detailed transcriptome profile analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in response to agmatine and putrescine with an emphasis in polyamine catabolism. Agmatine serves as the precursor compound for putrescine (and hence spermidine and spermine), which was proposed to convert into 4-aminobutyrate (GABA) and succinate before entering the tricarboxylic acid cycle in support of cell growth, as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Two acetylpolyamine amidohydrolases, AphA and AphB, were found to be involved in the conversion of agmatine into putrescine. Enzymatic products of AphA were confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis. Interestingly, the alanine-pyruvate cycle was shown to be indispensable for polyamine utilization. The newly identified dadRAX locus encoding the regulator alanine transaminase and racemase coupled with SpuC, the major putrescine-pyruvate transaminase, were key components to maintaining alanine homeostasis. Corresponding mutant strains were severely hampered in polyamine utilization. On the other hand, an alternative gamma-glutamylation pathway for the conversion of putrescine into GABA is present in some organisms. Subsequently, GabD, GabT, and PA5313 were identified for GABA utilization. The growth defect of the PA5313 gabT double mutant in GABA suggested the importance of these two transaminases. The succinic-semialdehyde dehydrogenase activity of GabD and its induction by GABA were also demonstrated in vitro. Polyamine utilization in general was proven to be independent of the PhoPQ two-component system, even though a modest induction of this operon was induced by polyamines. Multiple potent catabolic pathways, as depicted in this study, could serve pivotal roles in the control of intracellular polyamine levels.

Project description:Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are major organic polycations essential for a wide spectrum of cellular processes. The cells require mechanisms to maintain homeostasis of intracellular polyamines to prevent otherwise severe adverse effects. We performed a detailed transcriptome profile analysis of P. aeruginosa in response to agmatine and putrescine with an emphasis in polyamine catabolism. Agmatine serves as precursor compound for putrescine (and hence spermidine and spermine), which was proposed to convert into GABA and succinate before entering the TCA cycle in support of cell growth as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Two acetylpolyamine amidohydrolases, AphA and AphB, were identified to be involved in the conversion of agmatine into putrescine. Enzymatic products of AphA were confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis. Interestingly, the alanine-pyruvate cycle was shown indispensable for polyamine utilization. The newly identified dadRAX locus, encoding the regulator, alanine transaminase and racemase respectively, coupled with SpuC, the major putrescine-pyruvate transaminase, were key components to maintain alanine homeostasis. Corresponding mutant strains were severely hampered in polyamine utilization. On the other hand, the alternative gamma-glutamylation pathway for the conversion of putrescine into GABA was also discussed. Subsequently, GabD, GabT and PA5313 were identified for GABA utilization. Growth defect of PA5313 gabT double mutant in GABA suggested the importance of these two transaminases. The succinic-semialdehyde dehydrogenase activity of GabD and its induction by GABA was also demonstrated in vitro. Polyamine utilization in general was proven independent of the PhoPQ two-component system even the expression of which was induced by polyamines. Multiple potent catabolic pathways as depicted in this study could serve pivotal roles in control of intracellular polyamine levels. Keywords: Metabolism, polyamines, agmatine, putrescine, glutamate, phoPQ.

Project description:Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are major organic polycations essential for a wide spectrum of cellular processes. The cells require mechanisms to maintain homeostasis of intracellular polyamines to prevent otherwise severe adverse effects. We performed a detailed transcriptome profile analysis of P. aeruginosa in response to agmatine and putrescine with an emphasis in polyamine catabolism. Agmatine serves as precursor compound for putrescine (and hence spermidine and spermine), which was proposed to convert into GABA and succinate before entering the TCA cycle in support of cell growth as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Two acetylpolyamine amidohydrolases, AphA and AphB, were identified to be involved in the conversion of agmatine into putrescine. Enzymatic products of AphA were confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis. Interestingly, the alanine-pyruvate cycle was shown indispensable for polyamine utilization. The newly identified dadRAX locus, encoding the regulator, alanine transaminase and racemase respectively, coupled with SpuC, the major putrescine-pyruvate transaminase, were key components to maintain alanine homeostasis. Corresponding mutant strains were severely hampered in polyamine utilization. On the other hand, the alternative gamma-glutamylation pathway for the conversion of putrescine into GABA was also discussed. Subsequently, GabD, GabT and PA5313 were identified for GABA utilization. Growth defect of PA5313 gabT double mutant in GABA suggested the importance of these two transaminases. The succinic-semialdehyde dehydrogenase activity of GabD and its induction by GABA was also demonstrated in vitro. Polyamine utilization in general was proven independent of the PhoPQ two-component system even the expression of which was induced by polyamines. Multiple potent catabolic pathways as depicted in this study could serve pivotal roles in control of intracellular polyamine levels. Experiment Overall Design: P. aeruginosa PAO1 was grown aerobically in minimal medium P with 350 rpm shaking at 37C, in the presence of L-glutamate alone or with the addition of putrescine, agmatine or GABA at 20 mM. Cells were harvested when the optical density at 600 nm reached 0.5~0.6 by centrifugation for 5 minutes at 4C. Total RNA samples were isolated by RNeasy purification kit following instructions of the manufacturer (Qiagen). Reverse transcription for cDNA synthesis, fragmentation by DNase I treatment, cDNA probe labeling and hybridization were performed according to the instructions of GeneChip manufacturer (Affymetrix). Data were processed by Microarray Suite 5.0 software normalizing the absolute expression signal values of all chips to a target intensity of 500. GeneSpring software (Silicon Genetics) was used for expression pattern analysis and comparison. Only genes showing consistent expression profiles in duplicates were selected for further analysis.

Project description:Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is useful for the quantitative determination of the polyamines spermidine (SPD) and putrescine (PUT) and of the biogenic amine agmatine (AGM) in biological samples after derivatization. This GC-MS method involves a two-step extraction with n-butanol and hydrochloric acid, derivatization with pentafluoropropionic anhydride (PFPA) in ethyl acetate, and extraction of the pentafluoropropionic (PFP) derivatives by toluene of SPD, PUT, and AGM. We wanted to extend this GC-MS method for the biogenic amine histamine (HA), but we faced serious problems that did not allow reliable quantitative analysis of HA. In the present work, we addressed this issue and investigated the derivatization of HA and the effects of toluene and ethyl acetate, two commonly used water-insoluble organic solvents in GC-MS, and oven temperature program. Derivatization of unlabelled HA (d0-HA) and deuterium-labelled HA (d4-HA) with PFPA in ethyl acetate (PFPA-EA, 1:4, v/v; 30 min, 65 °C) resulted in the formation of d0-HA-(PFP)2 and d4-HA-(PFP)2 derivatives. d4-HA and 13C4-SPD were used as internal standards for the amines after standardization. Considerable quantitative effects of toluene and ethyl acetate were observed. The starting GC column temperature was also found to influence considerably the GC-MS analysis of HA. Our study shows the simultaneous quantitative analysis of HA as HA-(PFP)2, AGM as AGM-(PFP)3, PUT as PUT-(PFP)2, and SPD as SPD-(PFP)3 derivatives requires the use of ethyl acetate for their extraction and injection into the GC-MS apparatus and a starting GC column temperature of 40 °C instead of 70 °C. The PFP derivatives of HA, AGM, PUT, and SPD were found to be stable in ethyl acetate for several hours at room temperature. Analytically satisfactory linearity, precision, and accuracy were observed for HA, AGM, PUT, and SPD in biologically relevant ranges (0 to 700 pmol). The limits of detection of AGM, PUT, and SPD were about two times lower in ethyl acetate compared to toluene (range, 1-22 fmol). The limits of detection were 1670 fmol for d0-HA and 557 fmol for d4-HA. Despite the improvements achieved in the study for HA, its analysis by GC-MS as a PFP derivative is challenging and less efficient than that of PUT, AGM, and SPD.

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New insight into the transcarbamylase family: the structure of putrescine transcarbamylase, a key catalyst for fermentative utilization of agmatine.

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New insight into the transcarbamylase family: the structure of putrescine transcarbamylase, a key catalyst for fermentative utilization of agmatine.

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