Fatty acid and lipopolysaccharide analyses of three Heliobacterium spp.

The cellular fatty acids from Heliobacterium chlorum, Heliobacterium gestii, and Heliobacillus mobilis were analyzed. The fatty acid contents of the three organisms were essentially the same, consisting of large amounts of branched chain and some mono-unsaturated fatty acids. Neither a phenol-water nor a phenol-petroleum ether-chloroform extraction of whole cells yielded lipopolysaccharide.

Plasmid pCBI carries genes for anaerobic benzoate catabolism in Alcaligenes xylosoxidans subsp. denitrificans PN-1.

Pseudomonas sp. strain PN-1 is reclassified as Alcaligenes xylosoxidans subsp. denitrificans PN-1. Strain PN-1 is a gram-negative, rod-shaped organism, is motile by means of lateral flagella, is oxidase positive, and does not ferment sugars. Plasmid pCBI, carrying genes for the anaerobic degradation of benzoate in strain PN-1, is 17.4 kilobase pairs in length and is transmissible to a number of denitrifying Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas stutzeri strains. A restriction endonuclease map was constructed.

Symmetry and asymmetry in mandelate racemase catalysis.

Kinetic properties of mandelate racemase catalysis (Vmax, Km, deuterium isotope effects, and pH profiles) were all measured in both directions by the circular dichroic assay of Sharp et al. [Sharp, T. R., Hegeman, G. D., & Kenyon, G. L. (1979) Anal. Biochem. 94, 329]. These results, along with those of studying interactions of mandelate racemase with resolved, enantiomeric competitive inhibitors [(R)- and (S)-alpha-phenylglycerates], indicate a high degree of symmetry in both binding and catalysis. Racemization of either enantiomer of mandelate in D2O did not show an overshoot region of molecular ellipticity in circular dichroic measurements upon approach to equilibrium. Both the absence of such an overshoot region and the high degree of kinetic symmetry are consistent with a one-base acceptor mechanism for mandelate racemase. On the other hand, results of irreversible inhibition with partially resolved, enantiomeric affinity labels [(R)- and (S)-alpha-phenylglycidates] reveal a "functional asymmetry" at the active site. Mechanistic proposals, consistent with these results, are presented.

Pheromone produced by the myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca.

An extracellular, diffusible signaling molecule (pheromone) was produced by Stigmatella aurantiaca during fruiting body formation. The pheromone decreased the aggregation period in both the light and the dark and substituted for light in stimulating the maturation of aggregates into fruiting bodies. The cells were more sensitive to lower concentrations of pheromone in the light than in the dark, possibly explaining the stimulation of aggregation and fruiting body formation by light. The pheromone also interacted cooperatively with GMP to shorten the aggregation period. The pheromone behaved chemically as a low-molecular-weight lipid.

Purification and some properties of carbon monoxide dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas carboxydohydrogena.

A soluble yellow CO dehydrogenase from CO-autotrophically grown cells of Pseudomonas carboxydohydrogena was purified 35-fold in seven steps to better than 95% homogeneity with a yield of 30%. The final specific activity was 180 mumol of acceptor reduced per min per mg of protein as determined by an assay based on the CO-dependent reduction of thionin. Methyl viologen, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate), flavin mononucleotide, and flavin adenine dinucleotide were not reduced by the enzyme, but methylene blue, thionin, and toluylene blue were reduced. The molecular weight of native enzyme was determined to be 4 x 10(5). Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate revealed at least three nonidentical subunits of molecular weights 14,000 (alpha), 28,000 (beta), and 85,000 (gamma). The ratio of densities of each subunit after electrophoresis was about 1:2:6 (alpha/beta/gamma), suggesting an alpha(3)beta(3)gamma(3) structure for the enzyme. The purified enzyme was free of formate dehydrogenase and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-specific hydrogenase activities, but contained particulate hydrogenase-like activity with thionin as electron acceptor. Known metalchelating agents tested had no effect on CO dehydrogenase activity. No divalent cations tested stimulated enzyme activity. The native enzyme does not contain Ni since cells assimilated little (63)Ni during growth, and the specific (63)Ni content of the enzyme declined during purification. The isoelectric point of the native enzyme was found to be 4.5 to 4.7. The K(m) for CO was found to be 63 muM. The spectrum of the enzyme and its protein-free extract revealed that it contains bound flavin. The cofactor was flavin adenine dinucleotide based on enzyme digestion and thin-layer chromatography. One mole of native enzyme contains at least 3 mol of noncovalently bound flavin adenine dinucleotide.

Electron transport system of an aerobic carbon monoxide-oxidizing bacterium.

Experiments with crude extracts of Pseudomonas carboxydohydrogena revealed that a quinone is necessary for CO oxidation, and that cytochromes of the a, b, and c types and functional terminal oxidase(s) are found in cells grown on CO as the sole source of carbon and energy. CO dehydrogenase delivers electrons to the electron transport system at the level of quinone, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) is not involved in CO oxidation.

Alteration of the fatty acid composition of Escherichia coli by growth in the presence of normal alcohols.

The addition of normal alcohols in the series n-butanol to n-octanol to cultures of Escherichia coli ML308 grown on defined or lipid-free medium (at 17, 27, and 37 degrees C) caused an alteration in the fatty acid composition of this organism: the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids increased. Changes in the relative quantities of individual fatty acid species elicited by increasing concentrations of these alcohols were as follows: (i) myristic acid remained constant: (ii) palmitic acid increased; and (iii) the combined amount of palmitoleic plus cis-methylene hexadecanoic acids changed in a way which was reflected inversely by changes in the amount of cis-vaccenic acid. Comparable changes were not observed when cells were grown in the presence of n-nonanol and n-decanol in the concentration range tested. The changes observed upon addition of normal alcohols (n-butanol to n-octanol) paralleled, in part, the alterations in fatty acid composition observed when growth temperature was increased.

Mandelate racemase from Pseudomonas putida. Absence of detectable intermolecular proton transfer accompanying racemization.

An equimolar mixture of DL-[alpha-2H]- and DL-[alpha-13C]mandelate, when incubated with mandelate racemase (EC 5.1.2.2), shows conversion of singly labeled mandelate to unlabeled mandelate, due to solvent exchange of the alpha proton, while the level of doubly labeled mandelate remains at a constant low level. Similarly, an equimolar mixture of unlabeled and DL-[alpha-2H,alpha-13C]mandelate, when incubated with the enzyme, shows conversion of doubly labeled mandelate to singly labeled mandelate, due to solvent exchange, while the level of unlabeled mandelate remains constant at 50%. Incubation of an equimolar mixture of DL-[alpha-3H]mandelate and DL-rho-chloromandelate. These results indicate that mandelate racemase does not catalyze an intermolecular proton transfer to achieve racemization. These data are necessary, but not sufficient, results to indicate that mandelate racemase operates via a one-acceptor mechanism, in which the proton abstracted from one stereochemical face of a substrate molecule is returned to the opposite face of the same carbon of the substrate molecule.

Selective disadvantage of non-functional protein synthesis in Escherichia coli.

Comparison of growth rates of isogenic strains that synthesize varying levels of beta-galactosidase during continuous culture on non-inducing medium indicates that synthesis of low levels of non-functional protein has a small but possibly significant effect upon growth rate.

The effect of a non-metabolizable analog on mandelate catabolism in Pseudomonas putida.

DL-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluoromandelic acid (PFM) specifically inhibits the growth of Pseudomonas putida (ATCC 12633) on medium containing mandelate as sole carbon and energy source by competitive inhibition of mandelate dehydrogenase. PFM is not metabolized and is neither an inducer of the mandelate catabolic enzymes nor an antagonist of induction. Mutants resistant to the inhibitory effects of PFM (PFMr) were isolated; most prove to be superinducible, i.e. synthesize corrdinately the mandelate-specific catabolic enzymes at elevated levels following induction. In at least one case the PFMr mutation maps very near the structural genes that encode the enzymes functional in the first two steps of mandelate catabolism. It is reasoned that the PFMr mutation is of the promotor type. Resistance to substrate analogs such as PFM offers a general method for isolation of regulatory mutants in catabolic metabolism.

Mandelate racemase from Pseudomonas putida. Magnetic resonance and kinetic studies of the mechanism of catalysis.

The interactions of mandelate racemase with divalent metal ion, substrate, and competitive inhibitors were investigated. The enzyme was found by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to bind 0.9 Mn2+ ion per subunit with a dissociation constant of 8 muM, in agreement with its kinetically determined activator constant. Also, six additional Mn2+ ions were found to bind to the enzyme, much more weakly, with a dissociation constant of 1.5 mM. Binding to the enzyme at the tight site enhances the effect of Mn2+ on the longitudinal relaxation rate (1/T1p) of water protons by a factor of 11.9 at 24.3 MHz. From the frequency dependence of 1/T1p, it was determined that there are similar to 3 water ligands on enzyme-bound Mn2+ which exchange at a rate larger than or equal to 10-7 sec-1. The correlation time for enzyme-bound Mn2+-water interaction is frequency-dependent, indicating it to be dominated by the electron spin relaxation time of Mn2+. Formation of the ternary enzyme-Mn2+-mandelate complex decreases the number of fast exchanging water ligands by similar to 1, but does not affect tau-c, suggesting the displacement or occlusion of a water ligand. The competitive inhibitors D,L-alpha-phenylglycerate and salicylate produce little or no change in the enzyme-Mn2+-H2O interaction, but ternary complexes are detected indirectly by changes in the dissociation constant of the enzyme-Mn2+ complex and by mutual competition experiments. In all cases the dissociation constants of substrates and competitive inhibitors from ternary complexes determined by magnetic resonance titrations agree with K-M and K-i values determined kinetically and therefore reflect kinetically active complexes. From the paramagnetic effects of Mn2+ on 1/T1 and 1/T2 of the 13C-enriched carbons of 1-[13C]-D,L-mandelate and 2-[13C]-D,L-mandelate, Mn2+ to carboxylate carbon and Mn2+ to carbinol carbon distances of 2.93 plus or minus 0.04 and 2.71 plus or minus 0.04 A, respectively, were calculated, indicating bidentate chelation in the binary Mn2+-mandelate complex. In the active ternary complex of enzyme, Mn2+, and D,L-mandelate, these distances increase to 5.5 plus or minus 0.2 and 7.2 plus or minus 0.2 A, respectively, indicating the presence of at least 98.9% of a second sphere complex in which Mn2+, and C1 and C2 carbon atoms are in a linear array. The water relaxation data suggest that a water ligand is immobilized between the enzyme-bound Mn2+ and the carboxylate of the bound substrate. This intervening water ligand may polarize or protonate the carboxyl group. From 1/T2p the rate of dissociation of the substrate from this ternary complex (larger than or equal to 5.6 times 10-4 sec-1) is at least 52 times greater than the maximal turnover number of the enzyme (1070 sec-1), indicating that the complex detected by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is kinetically competent to participate in catalysis. Relationships among the microscopic rate constants are considered.