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Journal of Bacteriology, May 2001, p. 3089-3097, Vol. 183, No. 10
Department of Microbiology, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Received 22 December 2000/Accepted 6 March 2001
Two well-characterized enzymes in Salmonella enterica
serovar Typhimurium and Escherichia coli are able to
hydrolyze N-terminal aspartyl (Asp) dipeptides: peptidase B, a
broad-specificity aminopeptidase, and peptidase E, an Asp-specific
dipeptidase. A serovar Typhimurium strain lacking both of these
enzymes, however, can still utilize most N-terminal Asp dipeptides as
sources of amino acids, and extracts of such a strain contain
additional enzymatic activities able to hydrolyze Asp dipeptides. Here
we report two such activities from extracts of pepB pepE
mutant strains of serovar Typhimurium identified by their ability to
hydrolyze Asp-Leu. Although each of these activities hydrolyzes Asp-Leu
at a measurable rate, the preferred substrates for both are N-terminal
isoAsp peptides. One of the activities is a previously characterized
isoAsp dipeptidase from E. coli, the product of the
iadA gene. The other is the product of the serovar
Typhimurium homolog of E. coli ybiK, a gene of previously
unknown function. This gene product is a member of the N-terminal
nucleophile structural family of amidohydrolases. Like most other
members of this family, the mature enzyme is generated from a precursor
protein by proteolytic cleavage and the active enzyme is a
heterotetramer. Based on its ability to hydrolyze an N-terminal isoAsp
tripeptide as well as isoAsp dipeptides, the enzyme appears to be an
isoAsp aminopeptidase, and we propose that the gene encoding it be
designated iaaA (isoAsp aminopeptidase). A strain lacking
both IadA and IaaA in addition to peptidase B and peptidase E has been
constructed. This strain utilizes Asp-Leu as a leucine source, and
extracts of this strain contain at least one additional,
as-yet-uncharacterized, peptidase able to cleave Asp dipeptides.
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.10.3089-3097.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Aspartic Peptide Hydrolases in Salmonella
enterica Serovar Typhimurium
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B103 CLSL, 601 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801. Phone: (217) 244-8418. Fax:
(217) 244-6697. E-mail: charlesm{at}life.uiuc.edu.
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