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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2002, p. 3765-3773, Vol. 184, No. 14
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.14.3765-3773.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Functional Analysis and Regulation of the Divergent spuABCDEFGH-spuI Operons for Polyamine Uptake and Utilization in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303,¹ National Food Research Institute, Kannondai 2-1-12, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan²

Received 29 January 2002/ Accepted 24 April 2002

A multiple-gene locus for polyamine uptake and utilization was discovered in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. This locus contained nine genes designated spuABCDEFGHI (spu for spermidine and putrescine utilization). The physiological functions of the spu genes in utilization of two polyamines (putrescine and spermidine) were analyzed by using Tn5 transposon-mediated spu knockout mutants. Growth and uptake experiments support that the spuDEFGH genes specify components of a major ABC-type transport system for spermidine uptake, and enzymatic measurements indicated that spuC encodes putrescine aminotransferase with pyruvate as the amino group receptor. Although spuA and spuB mutants showed an apparent defect in spermidine utilization, the biochemical functions of the gene products have yet to be elucidated. Assays of lacZ fusions demonstrated the presence of agmatine-, putrescine-, and spermidine-inducible promoters for the spuABCDEFGH operon and the divergently transcribed spuI gene of unknown function. Since the observed induction effect of agmatine was abolished in an aguA mutant where conversion of agmatine into putrescine was blocked, putrescine or spermidine, but not agmatine, serves as the inducer molecule of the spuA-spuI divergent promoters. S1 nuclease mappings confirmed further the induction effects of the polyamines on transcription of the divergent promoters and localized the transcription initiation sites. Gel retardation assays with extracts from the cells grown on putrescine or spermidine demonstrated the presence of a polyamine-responsive regulatory protein interacting with the divergent promoter region. Finally, the absence of the putrescine-inducible spuA expression and putrescine aminotransferase (spuC) formation in the cbrB mutant indicated that the spu operons are regulated by the global CbrAB two-component system perhaps via the putative polyamine-responsive transcriptional activator.

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