JB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kapatral, V.
Right arrow Articles by Chakrabarty, A. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kapatral, V.
Right arrow Articles by Chakrabarty, A. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2000, p. 1333-1339, Vol. 182, No. 5
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

Vinayak Kapatral, Xiaowen Bina,dagger and A. M. Chakrabarty*

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 alpha  and beta  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.

dagger Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111.


Journal of Bacteriology, March 2000, p. 1333-1339, Vol. 182, No. 5
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:




Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2000 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.