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 Belanger, A. E.
Right arrow Articles by Hatfull, G. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Belanger, A. E.
Right arrow Articles by Hatfull, G. F.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, November 1999, p. 6670-6678, Vol. 181, No. 21
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Exponential-Phase Glycogen Recycling Is Essential for Growth of Mycobacterium smegmatis

Aimee E. Belanger and Graham F. Hatfull*

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260

Received 24 May 1999/Accepted 23 August 1999

Bacterial glycogen is a polyglucose storage compound that is thought to prolong viability during stationary phase. However, a specific role for glycogen has not been determined. We have characterized SMEG53, a temperature-sensitive mutant of Mycobacterium smegmatis that contains a mutation in glgE, encoding a putative glucanase. This mutation causes exponentially growing SMEG53 cells to stop growing at 42°C in response to high levels of glycogen accumulation. The mutation in glgE is also associated with an altered growth rate and colony morphology at permissive temperatures; the severity of these phenotypes correlates with the amount of glycogen accumulated by the mutant. Suppression of the temperature-sensitive phenotype, via a decrease in glycogen accumulation, is mediated by growth in certain media or multicopy expression of garA. The function of GarA is unknown, but the presence of a forkhead-associated domain suggests that this protein is a member of a serine-threonine kinase signal transduction pathway. Our results suggest that in M. smegmatis glycogen is continuously synthesized and then degraded by GlgE throughout exponential growth. In turn, this constant recycling of glycogen controls the downstream availability of carbon and energy. Thus, in addition to its conventional storage role, glycogen may also serve as a carbon capacitor for glycolysis during the exponential growth of M. smegmatis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Phone: (412) 624-6975. Fax: (412) 624-4870. E-mail: gfh{at}vms.cis.pitt.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 1999, p. 6670-6678, Vol. 181, No. 21
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Hett, E. C., Rubin, E. J. (2008). Bacterial Growth and Cell Division: a Mycobacterial Perspective. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 72: 126-156 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Seibold, G. M., Eikmanns, B. J. (2007). The glgX gene product of Corynebacterium glutamicum is required for glycogen degradation and for fast adaptation to hyperosmotic stress. Microbiology 153: 2212-2220 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Seibold, G., Dempf, S., Schreiner, J., Eikmanns, B. J. (2007). Glycogen formation in Corynebacterium glutamicum and role of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase. Microbiology 153: 1275-1285 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fernandez, P., Saint-Joanis, B., Barilone, N., Jackson, M., Gicquel, B., Cole, S. T., Alzari, P. M. (2006). The Ser/Thr Protein Kinase PknB Is Essential for Sustaining Mycobacterial Growth. J. Bacteriol. 188: 7778-7784 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Alonso-Casajus, N., Dauvillee, D., Viale, A. M., Munoz, F. J., Baroja-Fernandez, E., Moran-Zorzano, M. T., Eydallin, G., Ball, S., Pozueta-Romero, J. (2006). Glycogen Phosphorylase, the Product of the glgP Gene, Catalyzes Glycogen Breakdown by Removing Glucose Units from the Nonreducing Ends in Escherichia coli.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 5266-5272 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Niebisch, A., Kabus, A., Schultz, C., Weil, B., Bott, M. (2006). Corynebacterial Protein Kinase G Controls 2-Oxoglutarate Dehydrogenase Activity via the Phosphorylation Status of the OdhI Protein. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 12300-12307 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Munoz, F. J., Baroja-Fernandez, E., Moran-Zorzano, M. T., Viale, A. M., Etxeberria, E., Alonso-Casajus, N., Pozueta-Romero, J. (2005). Sucrose Synthase Controls Both Intracellular ADP Glucose Levels and Transitory Starch Biosynthesis in Source Leaves. Plant Cell Physiol 46: 1366-1376 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Baroja-Fernandez, E., Munoz, F. J., Zandueta-Criado, A., Moran-Zorzano, M. T., Viale, A. M., Alonso-Casajus, N., Pozueta-Romero, J. (2004). Most of ADP{middle dot}glucose linked to starch biosynthesis occurs outside the chloroplast in source leaves. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 13080-13085 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ballicora, M. A., Iglesias, A. A., Preiss, J. (2003). ADP-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase, a Regulatory Enzyme for Bacterial Glycogen Synthesis. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 67: 213-225 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Baroja-Fernandez, E., Munoz, F. J., Saikusa, T., Rodriguez-Lopez, M., Akazawa, T., Pozueta-Romero, J. (2003). Sucrose Synthase Catalyzes the de novo Production of ADPglucose Linked to Starch Biosynthesis in Heterotrophic Tissues of Plants. Plant Cell Physiol 44: 500-509 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Baroja-Fernandez, E., Munoz, F. J., Akazawa, T., Pozueta-Romero, J. (2001). Reappraisal of the Currently Prevailing Model of Starch Biosynthesis in Photosynthetic Tissues: A Proposal Involving the Cytosolic Production of ADP-Glucose by Sucrose Synthase and Occurrence of Cyclic Turnover of Starch in the Chloroplast. Plant Cell Physiol 42: 1311-1320 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Moreno-Bruna, B., Baroja-Fernandez, E., Munoz, F. J., Bastarrica-Berasategui, A., Zandueta-Criado, A., Rodriguez-Lopez, M., Lasa, I., Akazawa, T., Pozueta-Romero, J. (2001). Adenosine diphosphate sugar pyrophosphatase prevents glycogen biosynthesis in Escherichia coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 10.1073/pnas.131214098v1 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Desvaux, M., Guedon, E., Petitdemange, H. (2001). Carbon Flux Distribution and Kinetics of Cellulose Fermentation in Steady-State Continuous Cultures of Clostridium cellulolyticum on a Chemically Defined Medium. J. Bacteriol. 183: 119-130 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Belanger, A. E., Porter, J. C., Hatfull, G. F. (2000). Genetic Analysis of Peptidoglycan Biosynthesis in Mycobacteria: Characterization of a ddlA Mutant of Mycobacterium smegmatis. J. Bacteriol. 182: 6854-6856 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Vilchèze, C., Morbidoni, H. R., Weisbrod, T. R., Iwamoto, H., Kuo, M., Sacchettini, J. C., Jacobs, W. R. Jr. (2000). Inactivation of the inhA-Encoded Fatty Acid Synthase II (FASII) Enoyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Reductase Induces Accumulation of the FASI End Products and Cell Lysis of Mycobacterium smegmatis. J. Bacteriol. 182: 4059-4067 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Moreno-Bruna, B., Baroja-Fernandez, E., Munoz, F. J., Bastarrica-Berasategui, A., Zandueta-Criado, A., Rodriguez-Lopez, M., Lasa, I., Akazawa, T., Pozueta-Romero, J. (2001). Adenosine diphosphate sugar pyrophosphatase prevents glycogen biosynthesis in Escherichia coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 8128-8132 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»