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Journal of Bacteriology, March 2000, p. 1333-1339, Vol. 182, No. 5
Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60612
Received 14 September 1999/Accepted 7 December 1999
Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes copious amounts of an
exopolysaccharide called alginate during infection in the lungs of
cystic fibrosis patients. A mutation in the algR2 gene of
mucoid P. aeruginosa is known to exhibit a nonmucoid
(nonalginate-producing) phenotype and showed reduced activities of
succinyl-coenzyme A (CoA) synthetase (Scs) and nucleoside diphosphate
kinase (Ndk), implying coregulation of Ndk and Scs in alginate
synthesis. We have cloned and characterized the sucCD
operon encoding the
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Succinyl Coenzyme A Synthetase of Pseudomonas
aeruginosa with a Broad Specificity for Nucleoside Triphosphate
(NTP) Synthesis Modulates Specificity for NTP Synthesis by the
12-Kilodalton Form of Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase
and
and
subunits of Scs from P. aeruginosa and have studied the role of Scs in generating GTP, an
important precursor in alginate synthesis. We demonstrate that, in the
presence of GDP, Scs synthesizes GTP using ATP as the phosphodonor and,
in the presence of ADP, Scs synthesizes ATP using GTP as a
phosphodonor. In the presence of inorganic orthophosphate,
succinyl-CoA, and an equimolar amount of ADP and GDP, Scs synthesizes
essentially an equimolar amount of ATP and GTP. Such a mechanism of GTP
synthesis can be an alternate source for the synthesis of alginate as
well as for the synthesis of other macromolecules requiring GTP such as
RNA and protein. Scs from P. aeruginosa is also shown to
exhibit a broad NDP kinase activity. In the presence of inorganic
orthophosphate (Pi), succinyl-CoA, and either GDP, ADP, UDP
or CDP, it synthesizes GTP, ATP, UTP, or CTP. Scs was previously shown
to copurify with Ndk, presumably as a complex. In mucoid cells of
P. aeruginosa, Ndk is also known to exist in two forms, a
16-kDa cytoplasmic form predominant in the log phase and a 12-kDa
membrane-associated form predominant in the stationary phase. We have
observed that the 16-kDa Ndk-Scs complex present in nonmucoid cells,
synthesizes all three of the nucleoside triphosphates from a mixture of
GDP, UDP, and CDP, whereas the 12-kDa Ndk-Scs complex specifically present in mucoid cell predominantly synthesizes GTP and UTP but not
CTP. Such regulation may promote GTP synthesis in the stationary phase
when the bulk of alginate is synthesized by mucoid P. aeruginosa.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology and Immunology (M/C790), University of Illinois College of
Medicine, 835 S. Wolcott Ave., Chicago, IL 60612. Phone: (312) 996-4586. Fax: (312) 996-6415. E-mail:
Ananda.Chakrabarty{at}uic.edu.
Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tufts
University, Boston, MA 02111.
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