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Journal of Bacteriology, March 1999, p. 1934-1938, Vol. 181, No. 6
Department of Biology, Georgia State
University, Atlanta, Georgia
Received 16 September 1998/Accepted 5 January 1999
The ast operon, encoding enzymes of the arginine
succinyltransferase (AST) pathway, was cloned from Salmonella
typhimurium, and the nucleotide sequence for the upstream
flanking region was determined. The control region contains several
regulatory consensus sequences, including binding sites for NtrC,
cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP), and ArgR. The results of DNase I
footprintings and gel retardation experiments confirm binding of these
regulatory proteins to the identified sites. Exogenous arginine induced
AST under nitrogen-limiting conditions, and this induction was
abolished in an argR derivative. AST was also induced under
carbon starvation conditions; this induction required functional CRP as
well as functional ArgR. The combined data are consistent with the
hypothesis that binding of one or more ArgR molecules to a region
between the upstream binding sites for NtrC and CRP and two putative
promoters plays a pivotal role in modulating expression of the
ast operon in response to nitrogen or carbon limitation.
The arginine succinyltransferase
(AST) pathway, which converts arginine to glutamate, has been long
considered the major route for aerobic utilization of arginine as a
source of carbon, nitrogen, and energy by Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (7, 28). Characterization of the
aru operon, encoding enzymes of this pathway in P. aeruginosa, led to the identification of the corresponding
ast operon from the Escherichia coli genome
sequence (10). Recent studies have shown that the AST
pathway, rather than the arginine decarboxylase pathway, is the major
pathway for utilization of arginine as a nitrogen source by E. coli (23). Interestingly, this pathway is also
important for carbon starvation survival, such that one of the
ast genes of E. coli was initially identified as
a starvation gene, cstC (1, 3).
Computer analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the region upstream of
the ast operon in E. coli identified a putative
We have reported recently (20) that the arginine regulatory
protein of P. aeruginosa is required for induction of the
AST pathway by exogenous arginine. While the structure and function of
the arginine regulatory proteins of P. aeruginosa and
Salmonella typhimurium differ significantly (14, 20,
21), an early finding by Kustu (12) indicated that an
argR derivative of S. typhimurium is impaired in
utilization of arginine as a nitrogen source. Studies by Kustu et al.
(13) also indicated that arginine degradation in this
organism is under nitrogen control. Assuming that the recently
identified ast operon of E. coli (10)
would have a homologue in the closely related S. typhimurium, we initiated an investigation of the possible role of
ArgR of S. typhimurium in expression of the ast operon.
(A preliminary report of this work has been presented previously
[16].)
Cloning of the ast operon and sequence features of the
upstream flanking region.
A DNA fragment covering the first 500 bp
of the astC structural gene of E. coli was
amplified by PCR from E. coli K-12 chromosomal DNA. This DNA
fragment was then purified, labeled by the Genius system (Boehringer),
and used in colony hybridization for screening of a cosmid library of
S. typhimurium constructed in this laboratory. Several
positive clones were identified, and a 6.5-kb EcoRI fragment from one of these cosmids was further subcloned into the
EcoRI site of pUC18, as shown in Fig.
1. The chromosomal insert of the resulting plasmid (pAST3 [Fig. 1]) was partially sequenced, and a
homology search indicated that it contains most of the
astCABDE operon and an upstream flanking region of 470 bp.
The ast operon structure of S. typhimurium was
found to be identical to its counterpart in E. coli
(10). Furthermore, the xthA gene was also
found upstream of the ast operon, as is the case in
E. coli (GenBank accession no. D90818).
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Role of ArgR in Activation of the ast Operon, Encoding
Enzymes of the Arginine Succinyltransferase Pathway in
Salmonella typhimurium
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ABSTRACT
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TEXT
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54 consensus sequence and two putative NtrC binding
sites; such sequences are consistent with the observed nitrogen
regulation of the operon (3, 23). Studies by Fraley et al.
(3) also indicate the presence of a
S
promoter that appears to compete with the
54 promoter to
match expression to cellular needs.

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FIG. 1.
Nucleotide sequence of the ast regulatory
region of S. typhimurium. (a) Schematic drawing of the
structure of the ast operon in a cosmid and one of the
subclones, pAST3. (b) Nucleotide sequence of the chromosomal insert in
pAST101. The proposed
54 promoter region and the
putative binding sites for NtrC, ArgR, CRP, and IHF are labeled. The
DNA regions protected in DNase I experiments are shown in boldface
italic letters. The initiation codons for the astC and
xthA genes and the BamHI and Sau3A
restriction sites are also labeled. The Shine-Dalgarno sequence for
astC is overlined and labeled S.D. This BamHI
fragment is cloned into pUC19 in such an orientation that
HindIII and SalI are at the 5' end, and
SmaI and EcoRI are at the 3' end of the sequence
shown here.
a
putative
54 promoter (18), two potential NtrC
binding sites (18), and a putative integration host factor
(IHF) binding site (4)
are present at the corresponding
locations in the S. typhimurium sequence. However, there is
little homology between the two sequences in the regions identified as
cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP) binding sites in the E. coli sequence (3). The consensus sequence of the CRP
binding site, 5'-AAATGTGATCTAGATCACATTT-3', consists of two
11-bp half sites organized as inverted repeats that accommodate CRP
dimer (22). The S. typhimurium sequence (Fig. 1)
contains a sequence downstream of the NtrC sites that appears to be a
good candidate for a CRP site. The first half of the site proposed here
has poor homology to the consensus sequence (4 of 11 bp) but the second
half exhibits excellent homology to the consensus (10 of 11 bp). Six
putative ArgR boxes can be also deduced, albeit with varying degrees of
homology to the consensus sequence (5'-AATGAATAATTATTCATT-3' [29]). Our previous studies with ArgR of
S. typhimurium indicate that it is a hexamer of identical
17,000 Mr subunits and that each hexamer binds
to two such ARG boxes (14).
Binding of ArgR to the regulatory region of the ast
operon.
The purified 490-bp BamHI fragment of pAST101,
which contains the entire ast regulatory region, was labeled
with [
-32P]dGTP by using the Klenow fragment. The
labeled fragment was digested by Sau3A to generate two
end-labeled fragments; one of them is 210 bp and carries the two
putative NtrC binding sites, and the other is 280 bp and carries the
putative ArgR binding sites (Fig. 1). These two labeled fragments were
used in gel retardation experiments employing a homogeneous ArgR
preparation that was purified as previously described (14).
The results (Fig. 2, top) show that ArgR
interacts specifically with the 280-bp fragment carrying the putative
ArgR binding sites. A plot of the percentage of bound DNA against the
concentration of ArgR yields an apparent dissociation constant of 5.0 pM.
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NtrC binding sites. DNase I footprinting experiments were carried out, employing a purified MBP-NtrC fusion protein (11) that was generously provided by S. Kustu (Berkeley, Calif.). The results (Fig. 3) show that binding of NtrC protects a 55-bp region from nuclease digestion on the bottom strand, with the two NtrC binding sites, predicted by computer analysis, in the center of the protected region.
CRP binding. Computer analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the control region in S. typhimurium led to the identification of a potential CRP site centered at nucleotide 205 (Fig. 1). This site is at a different location from the potential sites proposed for the E. coli operon (3). Gel retardation experiments were carried out, employing a DNA fragment carrying the entire 490-bp regulatory region and the CRP protein of E. coli (purified according to reference 31; a gift from P. C. Tai). The results (Fig. 2, bottom) show that CRP specifically binds to the regulatory region. Cleavage by Sau3A within the identified site (Fig. 1) produces two DNA fragments that lost the capacity to bind CRP in gel retardation experiments (Fig. 2, bottom).
Effects of argR and ntrB(Con) on AST
activity.
The effect of exogenous arginine on the expression of
the ast operon was monitored by measurement of AST, the
first enzyme of the AST pathway. Cultures of wild-type S. typhimurium and an argR derivative (15) were
grown in glucose minimal medium (6) with either glutamate or
glutamate and arginine as the source(s) of nitrogen. Under these
conditions, nitrogen is limiting and the doubling time (270 to 500 min)
is much longer than that obtained with excess ammonia (45 min). The
results (Table 1) show that exogenous
arginine induces AST activity by 7.3-fold and that this induction is
abolished in the argR::Tn10 derivative.
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Both argR and crp genes are essential for
induction of the ast operon under carbon starvation.
AST activity was measured in wild-type S. typhimurium and
its argR and crp derivatives in the presence of
excess ammonia and under conditions of glucose excess and limitation.
The results (Table 2) show that the
wild-type strain has a negligible level of AST activity in the presence
of excess ammonia and glucose, regardless of the absence or presence or
arginine. In contrast, an elevated level of AST activity was observed
following depletion of a limiting amount of glucose. These results
establish that carbon starvation induces AST activity in the presence
of excess ammonia.
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Final conclusions. Computer analysis of the upstream region flanking the ast operon of E. coli (3, 23) led to the identification of two potential NtrC sites (also called NRI) that were presumed to function in nitrogen control of the operon. The results presented here identify two NtrC sites at the corresponding locations in the control region for the ast operon of S. typhimurium (Fig. 1). DNase I footprinting confirms that the two identified sites are in the center of a 55-bp region protected by NtrC (Fig. 3). The higher level of AST in the constitutive derivative, ntrB(Con), supports the conclusion that NtrC mediates nitrogen control of the ast operon in S. typhimurium.
The results presented here also clearly establish that inactivation of ArgR abolishes arginine induction of the ast operon in S. typhimurium under conditions of nitrogen limitation (Table 1). Gel retardation experiments showed that ArgR binds specifically to a DNA fragment carrying the region downstream of the NtrC binding sites. The observed affinity is similar to that previously determined for binding of ArgR to the arginine-repressible car operator of S. typhimurium (14). DNase I footprinting showed that ArgR protects a 90-bp fragment carrying two of the identified ArgR sites and that this protection is extended further downstream to a third site at higher ArgR concentrations. The 3' end of the proximal NtrC site is about 200 bp upstream of the putative
54 promoter. Studies with the glnA
promoter of S. typhimurium have shown that NtrC bound at the
enhancer, located between
108 and
140, interacts directly with
54 holoenzyme by means of DNA loop formation (25,
30). Our hypothesis is that in the case of the ast
promoter, it is necessary that one or more ArgR molecules bind to the
region between NtrC sites and the putative
54 promoter
in order to bring NtrC into proximity with RNA polymerase. The action
of ArgR could occur through DNA bending or wrapping around the ArgR
molecule. Studies with ArgR of E. coli (26, 29)
and S. typhimurium (14) indicate that the binding
of ArgR requires L-arginine and that a single hexamer binds
through contacts with one face of the DNA helix in both the minor and
major grooves. Crystallographic studies have shown that the hexameric
form consists of two trimers and is greatly stabilized upon binding of
six L-arginine molecules at the trimer-trimer interface
(27). Accordingly, an increase in the L-arginine
pool would increase the proportion of active ArgR with specific DNA
binding activity, resulting in activation of the catabolic
ast operon by NtrC.
In addition to arginine induction and nitrogen control, expression of
the ast operon is also subject to carbon catabolite repression (1, 3). The AST pathway is induced under carbon starvation, and both ArgR and CRP are required for such induction (Table 2). Evidence for CRP binding to the site identified from the
sequence (Fig. 1) was provided from the results of gel retardation experiments. While S. typhimurium and E. coli can
utilize arginine as a sole nitrogen source but not as a sole carbon
source (6), the AST pathway can also provide carbon
skeletons that might become critical under conditions of carbon
limitation. Induction by carbon starvation is most likely mediated at a
promoter recognized by the
S subunit of enteric RNA
polymerase. The participation of a
S promoter in
expression of the ast operon in E. coli has
recently been reported (3). The results presented here
(Table 2) indicate that activation of this
S promoter by
the cAMP-CRP complex also require a functional ArgR. The role of ArgR
in this activation under conditions of carbon limitation could be
similar to that proposed above for activation by NtrC under conditions
of nitrogen limitation. The role proposed here for ArgR extends its
functions beyond those previously recognized in enteric bacteria:
namely, repression of genes of arginine biosynthesis (17)
and resolution of ColE1 plasmid multimers (8).
Nucleotide sequence accession number. The nucleotide sequence determined in this study has been assigned GenBank accession no. AF108767.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We are indebted to Sydney Kustu (University of California at Berkeley) for the generous gift of purified NtrC and for helpful suggestions and stimulating discussions throughout this work. We thank P. C. Tai (Georgia State University) for the gift of purified CRP.
This work was supported in part by research grant GM47926 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dean's Office, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 4038, Atlanta, GA 30302-4038. Phone: (404) 651-1410. Fax: (404) 651-4739. E-mail: aabdelal{at}gsu.edu.
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