Temperature-sensitive mutant of Escherichia coli K-12 with an impaired D-alanine:D-alanine ligase.

The temperature-sensitive Escherichia coli mutant strain ST-640 lyses at the restrictive temperature except when an osmotic stabilizer or a high concentration of d-alanine is present. The presence of dl-alanyl-dl-alanine does not prevent lysis. The rate of murein synthesis, followed in a wall medium, is decreased at both 30 and 42 C. d-Alanyl-d-alanine and uridine diphosphate-N-acetyl-muramyl (UDP-MurNAc)-pentapeptide are synthesized in decreased amounts, accompanied by accumulation of UDP-MurNAc-tripeptide at 42 C but not at 30 C. Uridine nucleotide precursors leak into the medium, especially out of the mutant cells. This leakage is prevented when NaCl is present. The d-alanine: d-alanine ligase (ADP) (EC 6.3.2.4) of the mutant strain, assayed in crude extracts, is temperature sensitive. The impaired ligase is relatively resistant to d-cycloserine and other inhibitors of the enzyme. Combined genetic and enzymatic results show that the low ligase activity is due to a mutation in the ddl gene, the structural gene for d-alanine: d-alanine ligase.

Temperature-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 with low activities of the L-alanine adding enzyme and the D-alanyl-D-alanine adding enzyme.

A number of properties of temperature-sensitive mutants in murein synthesis are described. The mutants grow at 30 C but lyse at 42 C. One mutant possesses a temperature-sensitive d-alanyl-d-alanine adding enzyme, has an impaired rate of murein synthesis in vivo at both 30 and 42 C, and contains elevated levels of uridine diphosphate-N-acetyl-muramyl-tripeptide (UDP-MurNAc-l-Ala-d-Glu-m-diaminopimelic acid) at 42 C. The other mutant possesses an l-alanine adding enzyme with a very low in vitro activity at both 30 and 42 C. Its in vivo rate of murein synthesis is almost normal at 30 C but is much less at 42 C. When the murein precursors were isolated after incubation of the cells in the presence of (14)C-l-alanine, they contained only a fraction of the radioactivity that could be obtained from a wild-type strain. A genetic nomenclature for genes concerned with murein synthesis is proposed.

Temperature-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 with low activity of the diaminopimelic acid adding enzyme.

Five temperature-sensitive lysis mutants were found to possess very low diaminopimelic acid (Dpm) adding enzyme activity in vitro. Murein synthesis at 42 C was impaired, and uridine-5'-diphosphate-N-acetyl-muramyl-l-Ala- d-Glu (UDP-MurNAc-dipeptide) was accumulated. In the presence of NaCl, the mutants could grow at 42 C. NaCl had no influence on the Dpm adding enzyme activity in vitro. The growth rate of most temperature-resistant revertants was decreased, but their Dpm adding enzyme activity remained very low. Two revertants had a rather normal growth rate. Their Dpm adding enzyme activity was significantly increased, but much lower than in the wild type. The influence of growth rate on the viability of the mutants is discussed.

In vivo and in vitro action of new antibiotics interfering with the utilization of N-acetyl-glucosamine-N-acetyl-muramyl-pentapeptide.

Recent literature on the antibiotics enduracidin, moenomycin, prasinomycin, and 11.837 RP suggested an interaction with murein synthesis. Incubation of sensitive strains from Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus in a "wall medium" containing labeled l-alanine showed that all four antibiotics inhibited the incorporation of alanine into murein and gave rise to accumulation of radioactive uridine diphosphate-N-acetyl-muramyl (UDP-MurNAc)-pentapeptide. Peptidoglycan was synthesized when the particulate enzyme of B. stearothermophilus was incubated with the murein precursors UDP-N-acetyl-glucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) and UDP-MurNAc-pentapeptide. The newly formed polymer was less accessible for lysozyme and more strongly bound to the acceptor than the same product from the Escherichia coli particulate enzyme. After incubation in the presence of penicillin, a greater part of the peptidoglycan was lysozyme sensitive and more loosely bound to the acceptor. The antibiotics enduracidin, moenomycin, prasinomycin, and 11.837 RP inhibited peptidoglycan synthesis by the B. stearothermophilus particulate enzyme. The rate of synthesis of GlcNAc-MurNAc(-pentapeptide)-P-P-phospholipid was independent from the addition of these antibiotics, but its utilization was strongly inhibited. With the present results, it is not possible to distinguish the mechanisms of action of enduracidin, moenomycin, prasinomycin, and 11.837 RP from the mechanisms of action of vancomycin and ristocetin.