This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Watanabe, S. Articles by Yamane, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Watanabe, S. Articles by Yamane, K.

Mannitol-1-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (MtlD) Is Required for Mannitol and Glucitol Assimilation in Bacillus subtilis: Possible Cooperation of mtl and gut Operons

Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8572,¹ Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Fukuyama University, Fukuyama-shi, Hiroshima 729-0292, Japan,² Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada³

Received 24 February 2003/ Accepted 19 May 2003

We found that mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase (MtlD), a component of the mannitol-specific phosphotransferase system, is required for glucitol assimilation in addition to GutR, GutB, and GutP in Bacillus subtilis. Northern hybridization of total RNA and microarray studies of RNA from cells cultured on glucose, mannitol, and glucitol indicated that mannitol as the sole carbon source induced hyperexpression of the mtl operon, whereas glucitol induced both mtl and gut operons. The B. subtilis mtl operon consists of mtlA (encoding enzyme IICBA^mt1) and mtlD, and its transcriptional regulator gene, mtlR, is located 14.4 kb downstream from the mtl operon on the chromosome. The mtlA, mtlD, and mtlR mutants disrupted by the introduction of the pMUTin derivatives MTLAd, MTLDd, and MTLRd, respectively, could not grow normally on either mannitol or glucitol. However, the growth of MTLAd on glucitol was enhanced by IPTG (isopropyl-ß-D-thiogalactopyranoside). This mutant has an IPTG-inducible promoter (Pspac promoter) located in mtlA, and this site corresponds to the upstream region of mtlD. Insertion mutants of mtlD harboring the chloramphenicol resistance gene also could not grow on either mannitol or glucitol. In contrast, an insertion mutant of mtlA could grow on glucitol but not on mannitol in the presence or absence of IPTG. MtlR bound to the promoter region of the mtl operon but not to a DNA fragment containing the gut promoter region.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Brautaset, T., Jakobsen, O. M., Flickinger, M. C., Valla, S., Ellingsen, T. E. (2004). Plasmid-Dependent Methylotrophy in Thermotolerant Bacillus methanolicus. J. Bacteriol. 186: 1229-1238 [Abstract] [Full Text]