J. Bacteriol., 07 1996, 3957-3961, Vol 178, No. 13
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology

The activity of the high-affinity K+ uptake system Kdp sensitizes cells of Escherichia coli to methylglyoxal [published erratum appears in J Bacteriol 1997 Jan;179(2):568]

GP Ferguson, AD Chacko, CH Lee, IR Booth and CH] Lee C [corrected to Lee
Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom.

Expression of the Kdp system sensitizes cells to methylglyoxal (MG) whether this electrophile is added externally or is synthesized endogenously. The basis of this enhanced sensitivity is the maintenance of a higher cytoplasmic pH (pHi) in cells expressing Kdp. In such cells, MG elicits rapid cytoplasmic acidification via KefB and KefC, but the steady-state pHi attained is still too high to confer protection Lowering pHi further by incubation with acetate increases the sensitivity of cells to MG.

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