Biomedical subjects

Peter Ruhdal Jensen

Publications and source records attributed to Peter Ruhdal Jensen.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Synthetic promoter libraries--tuning of gene expression.

The study of gene function often requires changing the expression of a gene and evaluating the consequences. In principle, the expression of any given gene can be modulated in a quasi-continuum of discrete expression levels but the traditional approaches are usually limited to two extremes: gene knockout and strong overexpression. However, applications such as metabolic optimization and control analysis necessitate a continuous set of expression levels with only slight increments in strength to cover a specific window around the wild-type expression level of the studied gene; this requirement can be met by using promoter libraries. This approach generally consists of inserting a library of promoters in front of the gene to be studied, whereby the individual promoters might deviate either in their spacer sequences or bear slight deviations from the consensus sequence of a vegetative promoter. Here, we describe the two different methods for obtaining promoter libraries and compare their applicability.

Gene Expression↗

PubMed2006

A synthetic promoter library for constitutive gene expression in Lactobacillus plantarum.

A synthetic promoter library (SPL) for Lactobacillus plantarum has been developed, which generalizes the approach for obtaining synthetic promoters. The consensus sequence, derived from rRNA promoters extracted from the L. plantarum WCFS1 genome, was kept constant, and the non-consensus sequences were randomized. Construction of the SPL was performed in a vector (pSIP409) previously developed for high-level, inducible gene expression in L. plantarum and Lactobacillus sakei. A wide range of promoter strengths was obtained with the approach, covering 3-4 logs of expression levels in small increments of activity. The SPL was evaluated for the ability to drive beta-glucuronidase (GusA) and aminopeptidase N (PepN) expression. Protein production from the synthetic promoters was constitutive, and the most potent promoters gave high protein production with levels comparable to those of native rRNA promoters, and production of PepN protein corresponding to approximately 10-15 % of the total cellular protein. High correlation was obtained between the activities of promoters when tested in L. sakei and L. plantarum, which indicates the potential of the SPL for other Lactobacillus species. The SPL enables fine-tuning of stable gene expression for various applications in L. plantarum.

Aminopeptidases↗

PubMed2005

Tunable promoters in systems biology.

The construction of synthetic promoter libraries has represented a major breakthrough in systems biology, enabling the subtle tuning of enzyme activities. A number of tools are now available that allow the modulation of gene expression and the detection of changes in expression patterns. But, how does one choose the correct promoter and what are the appropriate methods for reading promoter strength? Furthermore, how fine should the tuning of gene expression be for some specific applications and how can the simultaneous and individual tuning of multiple genes be achieved? Some recent studies have helped us to find answers to many of these questions.

Bacteria↗

PubMed2005

Nucleotide metabolism and its control in lactic acid bacteria.

Most metabolic reactions are connected through either their utilization of nucleotides or their utilization of nucleotides or their regulation by these metabolites. In this review the biosynthetic pathways for pyrimidine and purine metabolism in lactic acid bacteria are described including the interconversion pathways, the formation of deoxyribonucleotides and the salvage pathways for use of exogenous precursors. The data for the enzymatic and the genetic regulation of these pathways are reviewed, as well as the gene organizations in different lactic acid bacteria. Mutant phenotypes and methods for manipulation of nucleotide pools are also discussed. Our aim is to provide an overview of the physiology and genetics of nucleotide metabolism and its regulation that will facilitate the interpretation of data arising from genetics, metabolomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics in lactic acid bacteria.

Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial↗

PubMed2005

Control analysis as a tool to understand the formation of the las operon in Lactococcus lactis.

In Lactococcus lactis the enzymes phosphofructokinase (PFK), pyruvate kinase (PK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are uniquely encoded in the las operon. We used metabolic control analysis to study the role of this organization. Earlier studies have shown that, at wild-type levels, LDH has no control over glycolysis and growth rate, but high negative control over formate production (C(Jformate)LDH=-1.3). We found that PFK and PK exert no control over glycolysis and growth rate at wild-type enzyme levels but both enzymes exert strong positive control on the glycolytic flux at reduced activities. PK exerts high positive control over formate (C(Jformate)PK=0.9-1.1) and acetate production (C(Jacetate)PK=0.8-1.0), whereas PFK exerts no control over these fluxes at increased expression. Decreased expression of the entire las operon resulted in a strong decrease in the growth rate and glycolytic flux; at 53% expression of the las operon glycolytic flux was reduced to 44% and the flux control coefficient increased towards 3. Increased las expression resulted in a slight decrease in the glycolytic flux. At wild-type levels, control was close to zero on both glycolysis and the pyruvate branches. The sum of control coefficients for the three enzymes individually was comparable with the control coefficient found for the entire operon; the strong positive control exerted by PK almost cancels out the negative control exerted by LDH on formate production. Our analysis suggests that coregulation of PFK and PK provides a very efficient way to regulate glycolysis, and coregulating PK and LDH allows cells to maintain homolactic fermentation during glycolysis regulation.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed2005

In vitro characterization of the Bacillus subtilis protein tyrosine phosphatase YwqE.

Both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria possess protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) with a catalytic Cys residue. In addition, many gram-positive bacteria have acquired a new family of PTPs, whose first characterized member was CpsB from Streptococcus pneumoniae. Bacillus subtilis contains one such CpsB-like PTP, YwqE, in addition to two class II Cys-based PTPs, YwlE and YfkJ. The substrates for both YwlE and YfkJ are presently unknown, while YwqE was shown to dephosphorylate two phosphotyrosine-containing proteins implicated in UDP-glucuronate biosynthesis, YwqD and YwqF. In this study, we characterize YwqE, compare the activities of the three B. subtilis PTPs (YwqE, YwlE, and YfkJ), and demonstrate that the two B. subtilis class II PTPs do not dephosphorylate the physiological substrates of YwqE.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Protein-tyrosine phosphorylation in Bacillus subtilis.

In recent years bacterial protein-tyrosine kinases have been found to phosphorylate a growing number of protein substrates, including RNA polymerase sigma factors, UDP-glucose dehydrogenases and single-stranded DNA-binding proteins. The activity of these protein substrates was affected by tyrosine phosphorylation, indicating that this post-translational modification could regulate physiological processes ranging from stress response and exopolysaccharide synthesis to DNA metabolism. Some interesting work in this field was done in Bacillus subtilis, and we here present the current state of knowledge on protein-tyrosine phosphorylation in this gram-positive model organism. With its two kinases, two kinase modulators, three phosphatases and at least four different tyrosine-phosphorylated substrates, B. subtilis is the bacterium with the highest number of presently known participants in the global network of protein-tyrosine phosphorylation. We discuss the approaches currently used to chart this network: ranging from studies of substrate specificity and the physiological role of tyrosine phosphorylation of individual enzymes to the global approaches at the level of systems biology.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed2003

The level of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity strongly influences xylose fermentation and inhibitor sensitivity in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains.

Disruption of the ZWF1 gene encoding glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) has been shown to reduce the xylitol yield and the xylose consumption in the xylose-utilizing recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain TMB3255. In the present investigation we have studied the influence of different production levels of G6PDH on xylose fermentation. We used a synthetic promoter library and the copper-regulated CUP1 promoter to generate G6PDH-activities between 0% and 179% of the wild-type level. G6PDH-activities of 1% and 6% of the wild-type level resulted in 2.8- and 5.1-fold increase in specific xylose consumption, respectively, compared with the ZWF1-disrupted strain. Both strains exhibited decreased xylitol yields (0.13 and 0.19 g/g xylose) and enhanced ethanol yields (0.36 and 0.34 g/g xylose) compared with the control strain TMB3001 (0.29 g xylitol/g xylose, 0.31 g ethanol/g xylose). Cytoplasmic transhydrogenase (TH) from Azotobacter vinelandii has previously been shown to transfer NADPH and NAD(+) into NADP(+) and NADH, and TH-overproduction resulted in lower xylitol yield and enhanced glycerol yield during xylose utilization. Strains with low G6PDH-activity grew slower in a lignocellulose hydrolysate than the strain with wild-type G6PDH-activity, which suggested that the availability of intracellular NADPH correlated with tolerance towards lignocellulose-derived inhibitors. Low G6PDH-activity strains were also more sensitive to H(2)O(2) than the control strain TMB3001.

Acetates↗

PubMed2003

Precise determinations of C and D periods by flow cytometry in Escherichia coli K-12 and B/r.

The C and D cell cycle periods of seven Escherichia coli K-12 strains and three E. coli B/r strains were determined by computer simulation of DNA histograms obtained by flow cytometry of batch cultures grown at several different generation times. To obtain longer generation times two of the K-12 strains were cultivated at several different dilution rates in glucose-limited chemostats. The replication period (C period) was found to be similar in K-12 and B/r strains grown at similar generation times. At generation times below 60 min the C period was constant; above 60 min it increased linearly with increasing generation time. The period from termination of replication to cell division (D period) was more variable. It was much shorter in B/r than in K-12 strains. Like the C period it was relatively constant at generation times below 60 min and it increased with increasing generation times at longer generation times. In glucose-limited chemostats good correlation was found between D periods and generation times, whereas batch cultures exhibited carbon-source-dependent variations. Chemostat cultures showed cell cycle variations very similar to those obtained in batch cultures. These flow cytometric determinations of cell cycle periods confirm earlier determinations of the C period and establish that the D period also varies with generation time in slowly growing cultures. In addition they extend the range of growth rates at which cell cycle periods have been determined in E. coli K-12.

Cell Cycle↗

PubMed2002

DNA supercoiling in Escherichia coli is under tight and subtle homeostatic control, involving gene-expression and metabolic regulation of both topoisomerase I and DNA gyrase.

DNA of prokaryotes is in a nonequilibrium structural state, characterized as 'active' DNA supercoiling. Alterations in this state affect many life processes and a homeostatic control of DNA supercoiling has been suggested [Menzel, R. & Gellert, M. (1983) Cell 34, 105-113]. We here report on a new method for quantifying homeostatic control of the high-energy state of in vivo DNA. The method involves making small perturbation in the expression of topoisomerase I, and measuring the effect on DNA supercoiling of a reporter plasmid and on the expression of DNA gyrase. In a separate set of experiments the expression of DNA gyrase was manipulated and the control on DNA supercoiling and topoisomerase I expression was measured [part of these latter experiments has been published in Jensen, P.R., van der Weijden, C.C., Jensen, L.B., Westerhoff, H.V. & Snoep, J.L. (1999) Eur. J. Biochem. 266, 865-877]. Of the two regulatory mechanisms via which homeostasis is conferred, regulation of enzyme activity or regulation of enzyme expression, we quantified the first to be responsible for 72% and the latter for 28%. The gene expression regulation could be dissected to DNA gyrase (21%) and to topoisomerase I (7%). On a scale from 0 (no homeostatic control) to 1 (full homeostatic control) we quantified the homeostatic control of DNA supercoiling at 0.87. A 10% manipulation of either topoisomerase I or DNA gyrase activity results in a 1.3% change of DNA supercoiling only. We conclude that the homeostatic regulation of the nonequilibrium DNA structure in wild-type Escherichia coli is almost complete and subtle (i.e. involving at least three regulatory mechanisms).

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Modulation of gene expression made easy.

A new approach for modulating gene expression, based on randomization of promoter (spacer) sequences, was developed. The method was applied to chromosomal genes in Lactococcus lactis and shown to generate libraries of clones with broad ranges of expression levels of target genes. In one example, overexpression was achieved by introducing an additional gene copy into a phage attachment site on the chromosome. This resulted in a series of strains with phosphofructokinase activities from 1.4 to 11 times the wild-type activity level. In this example, the pfk gene was cloned upstream of a gusA gene encoding beta-glucuronidase, resulting in an operon structure in which both genes are transcribed from a common promoter. We show that there is a linear correlation between the expressions of the two genes, which facilitates screening for mutants with suitable enzyme activities. In a second example, we show that the method can be applied to modulating the expression of native genes on the chromosome. We constructed a series of strains in which the expression of the las operon, containing the genes pfk, pyk, and ldh, was modulated by integrating a truncated copy of the pfk gene. Importantly, the modulation affected the activities of all three enzymes to the same extent, and enzyme activities ranging from 0.5 to 3.5 times the wild-type level were obtained.

Biotechnology↗