Promoter characterization and constitutive expression of the Escherichia coli gcvR gene.

The Escherichia coli glycine cleavage repressor protein (GcvR) negatively regulates expression of the glycine cleavage operon (gcv). In this study, the gcvR translational start site was determined by N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis of a GcvR-LacZ fusion protein. Primer extension analysis of the gcvR promoter region identified a primary transcription start site 27 bp upstream of the UUG translation start site and a minor transcription start site approximately 100 bp upstream of the translation start codon. The -10 and -35 promoter regions upstream of the primary transcription start site were defined by mutational analysis. Expression of a gcvR-lacZ fusion was unaltered in the presence of glycine or inosine, molecules known to induce or repress expression of gcv, respectively. In addition, it was shown that gcvR-lacZ expression is neither regulated by the glycine cleavage activator protein (GcvA) nor autogenously regulated by GcvR. From DNA sequence analysis, it was predicted that the translation start codon of the downstream bcp gene overlaps the gcvR stop codon, suggesting that these genes may form an operon. However, a down mutation in the -10 promoter region of gcvR had no effect on the expression of a downstream bcp-lacZ fusion, and primer extension analysis of the bcp promoter region demonstrated that bcp has its own promoter within the gcvR coding sequence. These results show that gcvR and bcp do not form an operon. Furthermore, the deletion of bcp from the chromosome had no effect on gcv-lacZ expression.

Characterization of the Escherichia coli gcvR gene encoding a negative regulator of gcv expression.

The Escherichia coli glycine cleavage enzyme system catalyzes the cleavage of glycine, generating CO2, NH3, and a one-carbon unit. Expression of the operon encoding this enzyme system (gcv) is induced in the presence of glycine and repressed in the presence of purines. In this study, a mutant with high-level constitutive expression of a gcvT-lacZ gene fusion was isolated. The mutation in this strain was designated gcvR1 and was mapped to min 53.3 on the E. coli chromosome. A single-copy plasmid carrying the wild-type gcvR gene complemented the mutation, restoring normal regulation of a gcvT-lacZ fusion, while a multicopy plasmid carrying gcvR led to superrepression under all growth conditions. Negative regulation of a gcvT-lacZ fusion by GcvR was shown to require GcvA, a LysR family protein known to both activate gcv in the presence of glycine and repress gcv in the presence of purines. Models explaining how GcvR and GcvA might interact to regulate gcv expression are proposed.

The Escherichia coli glycine transport system and its role in the regulation of the glycine cleavage enzyme system.

An Escherichia coli K12 mutant defective in both serine biosynthesis (serA) and glycine transport (cycA) was found to exhibit a glycine cleavage negative (GCV-) phenotype, i.e. was unable to use glycine as a serine source. While [2-14C]glycine uptake and induction of a lambda gcvT::lacZ fusion were greatly reduced in a cycA mutant compared to the wild-type, both strains exhibited parallel increases in uptake and induction with increasing exogenous glycine concentrations. A plasmid carrying the wild-type cyc region complemented the GCV- phenotype and restored both glycine uptake and glycine-inducible gcvT::lacZ expression. Wild-type and cycA strains grown in the presence of either a glycine-containing tripeptide or threonine, which can be degraded internally into glycine, exhibited similar induction of the gcvT::lacZ fusion. However, when a gcv mutation, which causes glycine to accumulate within the cell, was introduced into the cycA strain, there was increased induction of the gcvT::lacZ fusion, but induction was less than that observed in a gcv cycA+ strain. It is proposed that cyc serves primarily in the regulation of gcv by transporting glycine into the cell, which endogenously induces gcv expression. However, the possibility of some form of exogenous regulation of gcv, mediated by the cyc-encoded glycine transport system, exists.