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Phenylacetic acid catabolism and its transcriptional regulation in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

ABSTRACT: The industrially important organism Corynebacterium glutamicum has been characterized in recent years for its robust ability to assimilate aromatic compounds. In this study, C. glutamicum strain AS 1.542 was investigated for its ability to catabolize phenylacetic acid (PAA). The paa genes were identified; they are organized as a continuous paa gene cluster. The type strain of C. glutamicum, ATCC 13032, is not able to catabolize PAA, but the recombinant strain ATCC 13032/pEC-K18mob2::paa gained the ability to grow on PAA. The paaR gene, encoding a TetR family transcription regulator, was studied in detail. Disruption of paaR in strain AS 1.542 resulted in transcriptional increases of all paa genes. Transcription start sites and putative promoter regions were determined. An imperfect palindromic motif (5'-ACTNACCGNNCGNNCGGTNAGT-3'; 22 bp) was identified in the upstream regions of paa genes. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) demonstrated specific binding of PaaR to this motif, and phenylacetyl coenzyme A (PA-CoA) blocked binding. It was concluded that PaaR is the negative regulator of PAA degradation and that PA-CoA is the PaaR effector. In addition, GlxR binding sites were found, and binding to GlxR was confirmed. Therefore, PAA catabolism in C. glutamicum is regulated by the pathway-specific repressor PaaR, and also likely by the global transcription regulator GlxR. By comparative genomic analysis, we reconstructed orthologous PaaR regulons in 57 species, including species of Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Flavobacteria, that carry PAA utilization genes and operate by conserved binding motifs, suggesting that PaaR-like regulation might commonly exist in these bacteria.

SUBMITTER: Chen X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3406165 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Phenylacetic acid catabolism and its transcriptional regulation in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Chen Xi X Kohl Thomas A TA Rückert Christian C Rodionov Dmitry A DA Li Ling-Hao LH Ding Jiu-Yuan JY Kalinowski Jörn J Liu Shuang-Jiang SJ

Applied and environmental microbiology 20120608 16

The industrially important organism Corynebacterium glutamicum has been characterized in recent years for its robust ability to assimilate aromatic compounds. In this study, C. glutamicum strain AS 1.542 was investigated for its ability to catabolize phenylacetic acid (PAA). The paa genes were identified; they are organized as a continuous paa gene cluster. The type strain of C. glutamicum, ATCC 13032, is not able to catabolize PAA, but the recombinant strain ATCC 13032/pEC-K18mob2::paa gained t ...[more]

PMID: 22685150

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Project description:UnlabelledCorynebacterium glutamicum metabolizes sialic acid (Neu5Ac) to fructose-6-phosphate (fructose-6P) via the consecutive activity of the sialic acid importer SiaEFGI, N-acetylneuraminic acid lyase (NanA), N-acetylmannosamine kinase (NanK), N-acetylmannosamine-6P epimerase (NanE), N-acetylglucosamine-6P deacetylase (NagA), and glucosamine-6P deaminase (NagB). Within the cluster of the three operons nagAB, nanAKE, and siaEFGI for Neu5Ac utilization a fourth operon is present, which comprises cg2936, encoding a GntR-type transcriptional regulator, here named NanR. Microarray studies and reporter gene assays showed that nagAB, nanAKE, siaEFGI, and nanR are repressed in wild-type (WT) C. glutamicum but highly induced in a ΔnanR C. glutamicum mutant. Purified NanR was found to specifically bind to the nucleotide motifs A[AC]G[CT][AC]TGATGTC[AT][TG]ATGT[AC]TA located within the nagA-nanA and nanR-sialA intergenic regions. Binding of NanR to promoter regions was abolished in the presence of the Neu5Ac metabolism intermediates GlcNAc-6P and N-acetylmannosamine-6-phosphate (ManNAc-6P). We observed consecutive utilization of glucose and Neu5Ac as well as fructose and Neu5Ac by WT C. glutamicum, whereas the deletion mutant C. glutamicum ΔnanR simultaneously consumed these sugars. Increased reporter gene activities for nagAB, nanAKE, and nanR were observed in cultivations of WT C. glutamicum with Neu5Ac as the sole substrate compared to cultivations when fructose was present. Taken together, our findings show that Neu5Ac metabolism in C. glutamicum is subject to catabolite repression, which involves control by the repressor NanR.ImportanceNeu5Ac utilization is currently regarded as a common trait of both pathogenic and commensal bacteria. Interestingly, the nonpathogenic soil bacterium C. glutamicum efficiently utilizes Neu5Ac as a substrate for growth. Expression of genes for Neu5Ac utilization in C. glutamicum is here shown to depend on the transcriptional regulator NanR, which is the first GntR-type regulator of Neu5Ac metabolism not to use Neu5Ac as effector but relies instead on the inducers GlcNAc-6P and ManNAc-6P. The identification of conserved NanR-binding sites in intergenic regions within the operons for Neu5Ac utilization in pathogenic Corynebacterium species indicates that the mechanism for the control of Neu5Ac catabolism in C. glutamicum by NanR as described in this work is probably conserved within this genus.

Project description:To date, no information has been made available on the genetic traits that lead to increased carbon flow into the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway of Corynebacterium glutamicum. To develop basic technologies for engineering, we employed an approach that begins by isolating a fatty acid-secreting mutant without depending on mutagenic treatment. This was followed by genome analysis to characterize its genetic background. The selection of spontaneous mutants resistant to the palmitic acid ester surfactant Tween 40 resulted in the isolation of a desired mutant that produced oleic acid, suggesting that a single mutation would cause increased carbon flow down the pathway and subsequent excretion of the oversupplied fatty acid into the medium. Two additional rounds of selection of spontaneous cerulenin-resistant mutants led to increased production of the fatty acid in a stepwise manner. Whole-genome sequencing of the resulting best strain identified three specific mutations (fasR20, fasA63(up), and fasA2623). Allele-specific PCR analysis showed that the mutations arose in that order. Reconstitution experiments with these mutations revealed that only fasR20 gave rise to oleic acid production in the wild-type strain. The other two mutations contributed to an increase in oleic acid production. Deletion of fasR from the wild-type strain led to oleic acid production as well. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis revealed that the fasR20 mutation brought about upregulation of the fasA and fasB genes encoding fatty acid synthases IA and IB, respectively, by 1.31-fold ± 0.11-fold and 1.29-fold ± 0.12-fold, respectively, and of the accD1 gene encoding the ?-subunit of acetyl-CoA carboxylase by 3.56-fold ± 0.97-fold. On the other hand, the fasA63(up) mutation upregulated the fasA gene by 2.67-fold ± 0.16-fold. In flask cultivation with 1% glucose, the fasR20 fasA63(up) fasA2623 triple mutant produced approximately 280 mg of fatty acids/liter, which consisted mainly of oleic acid (208 mg/liter) and palmitic acid (47 mg/liter).

Dataset Information

Phenylacetic acid catabolism and its transcriptional regulation in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Publications

Phenylacetic acid catabolism and its transcriptional regulation in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

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