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F C Neidhardt

Publications and source records attributed to F C Neidhardt.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1969

Effect of growth rate on histidine catabolism and histidase synthesis in Aerobacter aerogenes.

A study was made of how the catabolism of a carbon and energy source is affected by the biosynthetic demands of growing bacterial cells. Cultures of Aerobacter aerogenes in l-histidine medium were grown in a chemostat at rates determined by the supply of either sulfate or a required amino acid, l-arginine. It was discovered that the rate at which these cells grow under a biosynthetic restriction determines both the rate and the pattern of histidine degradation. (i) Histidine catabolism is partially coupled to the growth rate. This coupling is achieved by catabolite repression of histidase (histidine ammonia lyase; EC 4.3.1.3.), and also by a slightly decreased in vivo function of this enzyme at low growth rates. (ii) The looseness of the coupling results in a direct relationship between growth rate and growth yield, and possibly is correlated with an altered pattern of carbon flow from histidine. (iii) Sudden decreases in growth rate cause total repression of histidase synthesis for substantial periods of time. (iv) Sudden release of biosynthetic restriction leads rapidly to an increase in the functioning of the cells' complement of histidase, an increase in the rate of synthesis of this enzyme, and an increase in the growth yield from histidine.

Carbon Dioxide↗
PubMed1967

Genetic mapping of phenylalanyl-sRNA synthetase in Escherichia coli.

Genetic mapping of the structural gene for a phenylalanyl-sRNA synthetase in Escherichia coli was accomplished by the use of mutants with temperature-sensitive or p-fluorophenylalanine-resistant enzymes. The structural gene is located at minute 33 of the Taylor-Thoman map of the E. coli chromosome, closely linked to a structural gene (aroD) for one of the enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids, and distant from the known locations of other aminoacyl-sRNA synthetase genes.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1967

Adenosine triphosphate-linked control of Pseudomonas aeruginosa glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

Extracts of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 7700) cells grown on glucose, gluconate, or glycerol had enzyme activities related to the Entner-Doudoroff pathway. These activities were present in no more than trace amounts when the bacteria were grown on succinate. Fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase could not be detected in extracts of the bacteria grown on any of the above carbon sources. Therefore, it appears that P. aeruginosa degrades glucose via an inducible Entner-Doudoroff pathway. The apparent absence of fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase in cells growing on succinate suggests that the bacteria can form hexose and pentose phosphates from succinate by an alternate route. d-Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, a branch-point enzyme of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, was purified 50-fold from glucose-grown cells. Its molecular weight, estimated by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, was found to be approximately 190,000. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by adenosine triphosphate, guanosine triphosphate, and deoxyguanosine triphosphate, which decreased the apparent binding of glucose-6-phosphate to the enzyme. It is suggested that adenine nucleotide-linked control of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase may regulate the overall catabolism of hexose phosphates and prevent their wasteful degradation under certain conditions requiring gluconeogenesis.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1967

Formation and operation of the histidine-degrading pathway in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Histidine ammonia lyase (histidase), urocanase, and the capacity to degrade formiminoglutamate, which are respectively involved in steps I, II, and IV in the catabolism of histidine, were induced during growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on histidine or urocanate, and were formed gratuitously in the presence of dihydro-urocanate. Urocanase-deficient bacteria formed enzymes I and IV constitutively; presumably they accumulate enough urocanate from the breakdown of endogenous histidine to induce formation of the pathway. Urocanate did not satisfy the histidine requirement of a histidine auxotroph, indicating that it probably acted as an inducer without being converted to histidine. The results imply that urocanate is the physiological inducer of the histidine-degrading enzymes in P. aeruginosa. Enzymes of the pathway were extremely sensitive to catabolite repression; enzymes I and II, but not IV, were coordinately repressed. Our results suggest a specific involvement of nitrogenous metabolites in the repression. Mutant bacteria with altered sensitivity to repression were obtained. The molecular weight of partially purified histidase was estimated at 210,000 by sucrose gradient centrifugation. Its K(m) for histidine was 2 x 10(-3)m in tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane chloride buffer. Sigmoid saturation curves were obtained in pyrophosphate buffer, indicating that the enzyme might have multiple binding sites for histidine. Under certain conditions, histidase appeared to be partially inactive in vivo. These findings suggest that some sort of allosteric interaction involving histidase may play a role in governing the operation of the pathway of histidine catabolism.

Amidohydrolases↗
PubMed1966

Isolation of a Mutant of Escherichia coli with a Temperature-sensitive Fructose-1,6-Diphosphate Aldolase Activity.

Böck, August (Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.), and Frederick C. Neidhardt. Isolation of a mutant of Escherichia coli with a temperature-sensitive fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase activity. J. Bacteriol. 92:464-469. 1966.-A mutant of Escherichia coli was isolated which was able to grow in rich medium at 30 C but not at 40 C. Upon exposure to 40 C, the cells immediately stopped ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis, but protein synthesis continued at a diminished rate for a short time. Addition of chloramphenicol did not release RNA synthesis from inhibition at 40 C. Synthesis of beta-galactosidase could be induced at high temperature despite the presence of glucose in the medium, indicating a lesion in glucose catabolism. Of many catabolic enzymes tested in cell-free extracts, only fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase activity appeared to be altered in the mutant cells. No activity was demonstrable in extracts of mutant cells grown at either 30 or 40 C, but determination of glucose-oxidation patterns revealed that the enzyme is probably active in vivo at 30 C. Temperature-resistant secondary mutants were found to have partially or fully restored aldolase activity, and temperature-resistant recombinants had normal aldolase activity, indicating that the growth pattern and the altered aldolase had a common genetic basis. Linkage data permitted the assignment of an approximate map location for the mutated aldolase gene.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1966

Properties of a Mutant of Escherichia coli with a Temperature-sensitive Fructose-1,6-Diphosphate Aldolase.

Böck, August (Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.), and Frederick C. Neidhardt. Properties of a mutant of Escherichia coli with a temperature-sensitive fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase. J. Bacteriol. 92:470-476. 1966.-A mutant of Escherichia coli in which fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase functions at 30 C but not at 40 C was used to study the physiological effect of a specific block in the Embden-Meyerhof glycolytic pathway. Growth of the mutant at 40 C was found to be inhibited by the presence of glucose or certain related compounds in the medium. At 40 C, glucose was metabolized at 30 to 40% of the control rate and was abnormal in that glucose was converted into other six-carbon substances (probably gluconate, in large part) that were released into the culture medium. The inhibition was complete, but transient; its duration depended upon the initial amount of inhibitor added. The resumption of growth at 40 C was correlated with the further catabolism of the excreted compounds. When glycerol was used to grow the mutant at 40 C, the growth inhibition by glucose was accompanied by cessation of glycerol metabolism. Growth on alpha-glycerol phosphate was not inhibited under these conditions, implicating glycerol kinase as a possible site of inhibition; no inhibition of glycerol kinase by sugar phosphates, however, could be detected in vitro. The inhibitory effect of glucose on growth at 40 C is not caused by a deficit of intracellular adenosine triphosphate, but may be the result of a generalized poisoning of many cell processes by a greatly increased intracellular concentration of fructose-1,6-diphosphate, the substrate of the damaged enzyme.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1966

Biochemical and genetic characterization of a mutant of Escherichia coli with a temperature-sensitive valyl ribonucleic acid synthetase.

Böck, August (Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.), Lia Eidlic Faiman, and Frederick C. Neidhardt. Biochemical and genetic characterization of a mutant of Escherichia coli with a temperature-sensitive valyl ribonucleic acid synthetase. J. Bacteriol. 92:1076-1082. 1966.-To test our conclusion that Escherichia coli mutant I-9 possesses a valyl soluble ribonucleic acid (sRNA) synthetase that functions in vivo at 30 C but not at 37 C, measurements were made by use of the periodate method, of the level of charged valyl sRNA in this strain. A shift of temperature from 30 to 40 C resulted in a rapid discharging of valyl sRNA coordinate with the cessation of protein synthesis; at the same time, other species of sRNA, such as those for leucine, became fully charged. Identical results were obtained with a derivative of I-9 with relaxed ribonucleic acid (RNA) control. When P1 phage were grown on wild cells and then used at low multiplicities of infection to transduce temperature-resistant growth into I-9, complete cotransduction of normal valyl sRNA synthetase occurred. By means of the interrupted-mating technique, the structural gene for valyl sRNA synthetase was located on the E. coli chromosome map and found to be near thr, one-fifth of the length of the chromosome removed from the structural genes for the isoleucine-valine biosynthetic enzymes. Therefore, (i) the major valyl sRNA synthetase activity of I-9 appears to be temperature-sensitive in vivo, (ii) relaxed amino acid control over RNA synthesis does not appear to be a consequence of a normal charging of sRNA with a substitute molecule, and (iii) one structural gene for valyl sRNA synthetase is located on the E. coli chromosome not closely linked to the cistrons for the valine-biosynthetic enzymes.

Amino Acids↗