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Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6749-6752, Vol. 180, No. 24
Department of Microbiology,
Received 18 August 1998/Accepted 7 October 1998
We cloned a gene (sstT) for the Na+/serine
symporter from the chromosome of Escherichia coli by using
a low-copy-number vector and sequenced it. According to the deduced
amino acid sequence, the transporter (SstT) consists of 414 amino acid
residues. Hydropathy analysis suggested that the SstT protein possesses
9, instead of 12, hydrophobic domains.
Cells of Escherichia coli
K-12 or its derivatives possess several transporters for serine. A
major, constitutive serine-threonine transport system is an
Na+-coupled symporter (14, 27). Members of our
laboratory reported the second major transport system for serine, the
serine-specific H+-coupled symporter, which is induced by
leucine (15). Cells grown in the absence of leucine possess
little activity of this system (15). The structural gene for
this system was identified and found to be under the control of
leucine-responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) (35). A third
system, the leucine-isoleucine-valine transporter LIV-1, a binding
protein-dependent transport system, also transports serine slowly
(30). A fourth system, TdcC, is not functional in cells
grown under aerobic conditions (17). An H+
conductor strongly inhibited this system (37). Recently, we found that this system is an H+/serine-threonine symporter
(27).
We have isolated an E. coli mutant lacking the principal
serine transport system, the Na+/serine (threonine)
symporter (27). This mutant has made the cloning of a serine
transporter gene(s) possible. In fact, we have cloned tdcC
using the mutant as the host and pBR322 as a vector (27).
However, we failed to clone the gene for the Na+/serine
(threonine) symporter using the same host-vector system. Here we report
cloning by the use of a low-copy-number vector, sequencing, and
expression of the Na+/serine symporter gene
(sstT) and some characterization of the Na+/serine (threonine) symporter.
Gene cloning.
E. coli mutant WAT9 lacks the
principal serine uptake system, the Na+/serine symporter
(27). Therefore, cells of WAT9 are unable to grow on serine
as a major carbon source. We used this strain as a host for the cloning
of the serine transport gene(s) of E. coli. In our early
attempts in which we used pBR322 as a vector, we were able to clone
just one gene, which encodes the TdcC system. This suggested that a
high-copy-number plasmid is not suitable for cloning genes encoding
serine transporters with high activity such as the
Na+/serine symporter (14) and the
H+/serine symporter SdaC (15, 35). Thus, we used
a low-copy-number plasmid, pMW119. Chromosomal DNA was prepared from
cells of E. coli W3133-2 by the method of Berns and Thomas
(2). The DNA was partially digested with the restriction
enzyme Sau3AI. Fragments of 4 to 10 kbp were then separated
by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The DNA fragments were
ligated into pMW119 (which had been digested with BamHI and
dephosphorylated with bacterial alkaline phosphatase) with a ligation
kit (Takara Co.). Competent cells of E. coli WAT9 were
transformed with the ligated recombinant plasmids and then spread onto
agar plates containing a minimal medium consisting of 40 mM serine, 1 mM glycine, 1 mM isoleucine, 1 mM threonine, 60 µg of ampicillin per
ml, and 1.5% agar and incubated at 37°C for 3 days. Plasmids were
prepared from the transformants. Competent cells of E. coli
WAT9 were retransformed and spread onto the same plates. The plates
were incubated at 37°C for 3 days. Plasmids from the retransformants
were isolated. We obtained five candidate recombinant plasmids which
enabled WAT9 cells to grow on serine as a carbon source. Judging from the growth on serine and the serine transport activity (see below), it
seemed that plasmid pMST3 possessed the gene for the
Na+/serine symporter. Thus, we further characterized pMST3.
Properties of the transporter derived from pMST3.
We measured
serine transport activity (14) with cells of WAT9/pMST3 that
were grown in a minimal medium (38) supplemented with 40 mM
potassium lactate under aerobic conditions at 37°C. We observed
fairly high serine transport activity with WAT9/pMST3 cells (Fig.
1C). W3133-2 cells showed slightly higher
activity (Fig. 1A) than WAT9/pMST3 cells. One of the characteristics of the Na+/serine symporter is that threonine is another
substrate for this transporter (14, 27). The serine uptake
by W3133-2 cells was greatly reduced by excess (50-fold) threonine
(Fig. 1A). In this experiment, cells were grown in minimal medium
supplemented with lactate as a carbon source. Therefore, most of the
serine transport activity in those cells is due to the
Na+/serine symporter. The second major serine transporter
in E. coli, SdaC, is not induced under such conditions. Very
low serine transport activity, which was not affected by addition of
excess threonine, was observed with WAT9 cells (Fig. 1B). The serine
transport activity restored in WAT9/pMST3 cells was strongly inhibited
by threonine (Fig. 1C), suggesting that the gene carried on plasmid
pMST3 codes for a serine-threonine transport system.
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Cloning and Expression of the Gene for the
Na+-Coupled Serine Transporter from Escherichia
coli and Characteristics of the Transporter
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FIG. 1.
Serine transport activity in parental cells (W3133-2
[A]), mutant cells (WAT9 [B]), and mutant cells harboring plasmid
pMST3 (WAT9/pMST3 [C]). Cells were grown aerobically in minimal
medium supplemented with 40 mM potassium lactate at 37°C. Serine
transport was measured, at a final concentration of 0.1 mM, in either
the absence (
) or presence (
) of a 50-fold molar excess (5 mM) of
threonine at 25°C.
Mapping of the gene. We tried to determine the location of the sstT on the E. coli chromosome map by using a mapping membrane kit (Takara Co.) and a DNA fragment derived from the DNA insert of pMST3 as the probe. The DNA probe hybridized strongly with the 15B3 Kohara clone and faintly with the 4A1 clone (21) (data not shown). These two clones possess a region of overlap in the 68-min region of the E. coli chromosomal map (21). The restriction sites determined with pMST3 matched well with those of the overlapping region of 15B3 and 4A1 reported for the Kohara map (21). The DNA sequence of the entire chromosomal DNA of E. coli has been determined in the E. coli genome project (3). About 10 open reading frames are present in the DNA region carried on pMST3.
We constructed several deletion plasmids carrying various portions of the DNA insert of pMST3 and tested the growth of WAT9 cells harboring each one of the plasmids on serine as a carbon source as well as for serine transport activity to clarify the location of the sstT gene (data not shown). Our results clearly demonstrated that the open reading frame ygjU (3) is the serine transporter gene sstT. Sequencing of this region supported this conclusion, as is described below.Sequences.
We determined the nucleotide sequence of the
sstT region and its flanking regions by the dideoxy chain
termination method (32). We found one alteration of a
nucleotide in the coding region of sstT compared with the
sequence of this region registered in the GenBank database (G at
position 901 [A of initiation codon ATG is 1] was T in our sequence).
We found two promoter-like sequences in the region upstream from
sstT and a palindrome followed by T cluster which may
function as a
-independent terminator in the region downstream from
sstT (42). Thus, it seems that sstT is
one component in a monocistronic operon.
|
Defect in the sstT region of WAT9. WAT9 cells have no Na+/serine (threonine) symporter activity (27). Cloning of the sstT gene has enabled us to test whether the genetic defect in WAT9 is in the sstT gene. Chromosomal DNA of parental W3133-2 and the mutant WAT9 and the plasmid pMST32 DNA which carries the cloned gene for the Na+/serine symporter were digested with restriction enzymes, and Southern blot analysis was done with a DNA fragment derived from the sstT gene as the probe. As shown in Fig. 3, a 1.31-kbp band from W3133-2 DNA and pMST32 hybridized with the probe whereas a 2.0-kbp band and a 2.2-kbp band from WAT9 DNA hybridized with the probe when digested with AccI. Thus, it seems that a 2.9-kpb DNA insertion occurred in the sstT gene of WAT9, in which one AccI site exists.
|
Effect of tryptophan on expression of sstT.
Members of
our laboratory reported previously that tryptophan, but not other amino
acids, in the growth medium reduced serine transport activity
(14). It should be noted that tryptophan itself is not a
substrate for the Na+/serine symporter. We tested whether
tryptophan reduces the serine transport activity in cells of
WAT9/pMST3. As expected, cells grown in the presence of 5 mM tryptophan
in lactate minimal medium showed about twofold-lower serine transport
activity than cells grown in its absence (data not shown). These
results suggest that expression of the sstT gene is
repressed by tryptophan (or its metabolite). A Northern blot analysis
revealed that addition of tryptophan to the growth medium reduced
expression of the sstT gene both in W3133-2 cells and in
WAT9/pMST321 cells (data not shown). sstT may be a member of
the tryptophan regulon. In fact, we found a sequence in the region
upstream from the sstT gene (TTATACTCG) in the
10 region of a putative promoter which is very similar to the
sequence of the binding site of the tryptophan repressor in the
regulatory region of the mtr gene (TTGTACTCG) (7, 16), a gene repressed by tryptophan. It has been
reported that a CTAG or CTCG sequence is an important region for
repressor binding (7, 28).
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank Manuel F. Varela of Eastern New Mexico University for critically reading the manuscript.
This study was supported in part by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Tsushima, Okayama 700-8530, Japan. Phone and fax: 81-86-251-7957. E-mail: tsuchiya{at}pheasant.pharm.okayama-u.ac.jp.
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