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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1988

Protein kinase and phosphoprotein phosphatase activities of nitrogen regulatory proteins NTRB and NTRC of enteric bacteria: roles of the conserved amino-terminal domain of NTRC.

The NTRC protein (ntrC product) of enteric bacteria activates transcription of nitrogen-regulated genes by a holoenzyme form of RNA polymerase that contains the ntrA product (sigma 54) as sigma factor. Although unmodified NTRC will bind to DNA, it must be phosphorylated to activate transcription. Both phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of NTRC occur in the presence of the NTRB protein (ntrB product). We here demonstrate rigorously that it is the NTRB protein that is a protein kinase by showing that NTRB can phosphorylate itself, whereas NTRC cannot. Phosphorylated NTRC (NTRC-P) is capable of autodephosphorylation with a first-order rate constant of 0.14-0.19 min-1 (t 1/2 of 5.0-3.6 min) at 37 degrees C. In addition, there is regulated dephosphorylation of NTRC-P. By contrast to the autophosphatase activity, regulated dephosphorylation requires three components in addition to NTRC-P: the PII regulatory protein, NTRB, and ATP. NTRC is phosphorylated within its amino-terminal domain, which is conserved in one partner of a number of two-component regulatory systems in a wide variety of eubacteria. A purified amino-terminal fragment of NTRC (approximately equal to 12.5 kDa) is sufficient for recognition by NTRB and is autodephosphorylated at the same rate as the native protein.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1994

The major dimerization determinants of the nitrogen regulatory protein NTRC from enteric bacteria lie in its carboxy-terminal domain.

The NTRC protein (nitrogen regulatory protein C) of enteric bacteria is an enhancer-binding protein that activates transcription by the sigma54-holoenzyme form of RNA polymerase. NTRC is a homodimeric protein that binds to a dyad-symmetrical site in DNA. To activate transcription NTRC must be phosphorylated and must form an appropriate oligomeric species at an enhancer. In order to study subunit exchange between NTRC dimers, we constructed a fusion of the maltose-binding protein (MBP) to the amino-terminal end of NTRC (MBP-NTRC) and visualized the formation of heterodimers between MBP-NTRC and wild-type NTRC by a gel-mobility shift assay for DNA-binding. When MBP-NTRC is mixed with wild-type NTRC at 37 degrees C, subunit exchange occurs rapidly. The apparent half-life for dissociation of homodimers of NTRC is two to three minutes at 37 degrees C and is not changed by phosphorylation. The isolated carboxy-terminal domain of NTRC (91 amino acid residues) forms heterodimers with both wild-type NTRC and MBP-NTRC, indicating that the C-terminal domain is sufficient for dimerization. The apparent rate of dissociation of homodimers of the C-terminal domain is essentially the same as that of full-length NTRC, indicating that the major dimerization determinants of the protein lie in its C-terminal domain. Congruent with this, a truncated form of NTRC from which the last 58 amino acid residues were removed is a monomer in solution. Moreover, truncated forms of NTRC from which the last 16 or 26 amino acid residues were removed are predominantly monomeric in solution, as is a mutant form with the amino acid substitution A410E in its C-terminal domain. Monomerization of the above mutant forms of NTRC can be rationalized on the basis of homology between the C-terminal region of NTRC and a 50 amino acid residue region of the factor for inversion stimulation (FIS) protein.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed1995

Mechanism of activation of a response regulator: interaction of NtrC-P dimers induces ATPase activity.

NtrC is the transcriptional activator for nitrogen-regulated promoters and, as a response regulator, belongs to the protein family of two-component systems. The activity of all response regulators is modulated by phosphorylation of the conserved N-terminal receiver domain. Phosphorylation of the dimeric NtrC has two consequences: (i) a strong increase in the cooperative binding of NtrC to two adjacent binding sites and (ii) activation of NtrC as an ATPase. Here we show that phosphorylation of NtrC is not sufficient for activation of NtrC. At low protein concentrations (50 nM), phosphorylated NtrC was only active as an ATPase upon cooperative binding to DNA. At high protein concentrations (above 50 nM), NtrC was active in the absence of DNA, and activation occurred in parallel with the formation of high-molecular-weight aggregates. We infer that activation of NtrC involves an interaction between two NtrC-P dimers and proceeds in two steps. The first step is the phosphorylation of NtrC. The second step is the interaction between two NtrC-P dimers. This interaction induces the conformational change in NtrC-P to the active conformation.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

PubMed1993

Glutamate at the site of phosphorylation of nitrogen-regulatory protein NTRC mimics aspartyl-phosphate and activates the protein.

The NTRC protein of enteric bacteria is an enhancer-binding protein that activates transcription by the sigma 54-holoenzyme form of RNA polymerase under nitrogen-limiting conditions. In vitro NTRC must be phosphorylated to catalyze ATP hydrolysis and activate transcription. The site of phosphorylation of NTRC from Salmonella typhimurium is Aspartate 54, which lies in the amino-terminal regulatory domain of the protein. We used site-directed mutagenesis to make "conservative" substitutions at residue 54 to alanine, asparagine, and glutamate, and examined the properties of the mutant NTRC proteins in vitro and in vivo. In vitro none of them was detectably phosphorylated, as expected if D54 is, in fact, the sole site of phosphorylation. D54A and D54N did not activate transcription of glnA but, interestingly, D54E activated constitutively. Activation by D54E was partial compared to that by phosphorylated wild-type NTRC. Combining D54A or D54N with S160F, a change in the central domain of NTRC that partially bypasses the requirement for phosphorylation, yielded doubly mutant proteins that were as active as a form carrying S160F alone, indicating that the changes in D54 did not adversely affect the function of the remainder of NTRC. Combining D54E with S160F increased the levels of constitutive ATPase activity and transcriptional activation above those of mutant NTRC proteins carrying either single change alone. We conclude that phosphorylation of aspartate 54 is required to activate NTRC and postulate that the D54E mutation mimics phosphorylation, thereby allowing NTRC to hydrolyze ATP and activate transcription. Phenotypes of mutant strains encoding NTRC proteins with substitutions at D54 indicated that phosphorylation of NTRC at position 54 was necessary for normal growth in the absence of glutamine and that such phosphorylation occurred to some extent even in the absence of NTRB.

Aspartic Acid↗

PubMed1984

Evidence that nitrogen regulatory gene ntrC of Salmonella typhimurium is transcribed from the glnA promoter as well as from a separate ntr promoter.

Previous work has indicated that nitrogen regulatory genes ntrB and ntrC of Salmonella typhimurium are closely linked to glnA, the structural gene encoding glutamine synthetase; proceeding clockwise the order of genes in the 86 U region of the map is polA...ntrC ntrB glnA glnA promoter...rha. To study ntrC transcription we have constructed operon fusions of ntrC to lacZ using the Casadaban Mu d1 (Apr lac) phage so that we can measure beta-galactosidase activity as a reflection of ntrC transcription and we have introduced into fusion strains promoter constitutive mutations at glnA [glnAp(Con)]. The glnAp(Con) mutations, which elevate glnA expression in fusion strains, also elevate beta-galactosidase activity, indicating that ntrC is cotranscribed with glnA. Consistent with this interpretation, polar insertion mutations in glnA decrease beta-galactosidase activity of fusion strains carrying glnAp(Con) mutations. However, glnA insertions do not eliminate beta-galactosidase activity of glnAp(Con) ntrC::Mu d1 strains and they have little effect on beta-galactosidase activity of the original ntrC::Mu d1 fusion strains. The latter results confirm that ntrC can also be transcribed from an ntr promoter downstream of glnA. Polar insertion mutations in ntrB eliminate beta-galactosidase activity of both the original fusion strains and fusion strains carrying glnA(Con) mutations, indicating that the ntr promoter lies between glnA and ntrB.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed1996

Effector-induced self-association and conformational changes in the enhancer-binding protein NTRC.

The Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogen regulatory protein NTRC is a response regulator which activates transcription in response to nitrogen limitation, and is a member of the family of sigma N-dependent enhancer-binding proteins. Using limited trypsin digestion, two domains of NTRC were detected and conformational changes within the protein in response to the binding of ligands were also observed. In the absence of ligands, the major digestion products were 42, 36 and 12.5 kDa bands corresponding to the central plus C-terminal domain, the central domain, and the N-terminal domains, respectively. Upon binding of purine but not pyrimidine nucleotides, the 36 kDa band was insensitive to further proteolysis, indicative of a conformational change in the central domain. Analysis of the dependence of this insensitivity on ATP gamma S concentration suggested an apparent dissociation constant (Kd) for ATP gamma S of 150 microM. In the presence of DNA, both the central and C-terminal domains of NTRC were insensitive to proteolytic cleavage, indicative of a further conformational change. NTRC S160F, a mutant form of NTRC that is active in the absence of phosphorylation, was more stable to proteolysis than the wild-type protein. This mutant protein is apparently locked in a conformation resembling the DNA-bound form of wild-type NTRC. The involvement of ligands in self-association was studied using sedimentation equilibrium analysis. In the absence of ligand, wild-type NTRC displayed a monomer-dimer equilibrium with a Kd of 6 microM. In the presence of ATP gamma S the equilibrium was shifted towards the dimer form (Kd = 0.8 microM). A similar dissociation constant for the monomer-dimer interaction was observed with NTRC S160F in the absence of ATP gamma S (Kd = 0.5 microM). The addition of ATP gamma S induced a significant association of NTRC S160F to higher-order states with a dimer-octamer model producing a slightly, but not significantly better fit to the data than a dimer-hexamer model. We propose that ligand-mediated self-association provides a common mechanism for activation of this class of transcriptional regulatory proteins.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed1981

Nitrogen regulatory locus "glnR" of enteric bacteria is composed of cistrons ntrB and ntrC: identification of their protein products.

The nitrogen regulatory locus "glnR" of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium is composed of two cistrons, which we propose to call ntrB and ntrC (nitrogen regulation B and C). Frameshift mutations in ntrB and ntrC were isolated on a lambda phage that carries the E. coli ntrB and ntrC genes and the closely linked glnA gene, the structural gene encoding glutamine synthetase [L-glutamate:ammonia ligase (ADP-forming), EC 6.3.1.2]; mutations were selected as suppressors of glnF (which we propose to rename ntrA), a selection used previously to isolate glnR mutations. Phage DNA from one mutant (ntrB) failed to direct synthesis of a 36-kilodalton (kDal) protein whose synthesis was directed by DNA from the parent phage (ntrB+) in a coupled in vitro transcription/translation system. DNA from three other mutants (ntrC) failed to direct synthesis of a 54-kDal protein; DNA from two of these mutants instead directed synthesis of smaller proteins, 53 and 50 kDal, respectively. In all four cases, DNA from frameshift revertants directed synthesis of both the 36-kDal and 54-kDal proteins. These results suggested that ntrB and ntrC were separate genes which encoded 36-kDal and 54-kDal protein products, respectively. Frameshift mutations in ntrB and ntrC complemented each other with regard to regulation of glnA expression in vivo and growth on arginine as nitrogen source, another nitrogen-controlled phenotype; this confirmed that ntrB and ntrC are separate cistrons that encode diffusible products. The ntrB and ntrC genes were also defined in S. typhimurium. Studies of mutant strains provided information on the roles of the ntrB and ntrC products in activation and repression of glnA expression and raised the possibility that these products function as a protein complex in regulating expression of nitrogen-controlled genes.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed1994

DNA binding activity of NtrC from Rhizobium grown on different nitrogen sources.

The DNA-binding activity of the NtrC protein can be demonstrated in gel retardation assays with concentrated protein extracts of Rhizobium etli. Using extracts from either the wild type or a ntrC mutant strain and an antiserum raised against the NtrC protein, we demonstrate specific binding of NtrC to the upstream regulatory region of the glnII gene, where two putative NtrC-binding sites are present. KNO3-grown bacteria contain less NtrC protein and more NtrC-binding activity than NH4Cl-grown bacteria, thus showing that with this protocol it is possible to detect changes in NtrC-binding activity. The advantages of this assay system in comparison with that using pure proteins is discussed.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed1995

Constitutive forms of the enhancer-binding protein NtrC: evidence that essential oligomerization determinants lie in the central activation domain.

Nitrogen regulatory protein C (NtrC) is a bacterial enhancer-binding protein that activates transcription by the sigma 54-holoenzyme. To activate transcription, NtrC must hydrolyze ATP, a reaction that depends upon its being phosphorylated and forming an appropriate oligomer. In this paper we characterize "constitutive" mutant forms of the NtrC protein from Salmonella typhimurium; unlike wild-type NtrC, these forms are able to hydrolyze ATP and activate transcription in vitro without being phosphorylated. The amino acids altered in NtrCconstitutive proteins are located in both the N-terminal regulatory domain and the central domain, which is directly responsible for transcriptional activation. The residues that are altered are not conserved among activators of the sigma 54-holoenzyme, and are not identical even among NtrC proteins from members of different subgroups of the proteobacteria (purple bacteria). NtrCconstitutive proteins are phosphorylated normally; phosphorylation increases their ability to hydrolyze ATP and activate transcription. Moreover, the oligomerization of these proteins that occurs when they bind to an enhancer also increases the ATPase activity of both unmodified and phosphorylated forms. Removal of the N-terminal regulatory domain from two NtrCconstitutive proteins with amino acid substitutions in the central domain (NtrCS160F and NtrCV2881) leaves them active, indicating that essential oligomerization determinants lie outside the regulatory domain. This conclusion is confirmed by the observation that the ATPase activity of delta N-NtrCS160F is greatly stimulated when it binds to an enhancer, and by the ability of this protein to activate transcription synergistically with a form of NtrC incapable of DNA-binding. Together with previous results indicating that oligomerization determinants do not lie in the C-terminal DNA-binding domain of NtrC; these results provide evidence that they lie in the central domain.

Alleles↗

PubMed1990

DNA-looping and enhancer activity: association between DNA-bound NtrC activator and RNA polymerase at the bacterial glnA promoter.

The NtrC protein activates transcription of the glnA operon of enteric bacteria by stimulating the formation of stable "open" complexes by RNA polymerase (sigma 54-holoenzyme form). To regulate the glnA promoter, NtrC binds to sites that have the properties of transcriptional enhancers: the sites will function far from the promoter and in an orientation-independent fashion. To investigate the mechanism of enhancer function, we have used electron microscopy to visualize the interactions of purified NtrC and RNA polymerase with their DNA binding sites and with each other. Under conditions that allow the formation of open complexes, about 30% of DNA molecules carry both RNA polymerase and NtrC bound to their specific sites. Of these, about 15% form looped structures in which NtrC and the RNA polymerase-promoter complex are in contact. The length of the looped DNA is that predicted from the spacing that was engineered between the enhancer and the glnA promoter (390 base pairs). As expected for activation intermediates, the looped structures disappear when RNA polymerase is allowed to transcribe the DNA. We conclude that the NtrC enhancer functions by means of a direct association between DNA-bound NtrC and RNA polymerase (DNA-looping model). Association of DNA-bound proteins appears to be the major mechanism by which different types of site-specific DNA transactions are localized and controlled.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed1996

In vitro reconstitution and characterization of the Rhodobacter capsulatus NtrB and NtrC two-component system.

Enhancer-dependent transcription in enteric bacteria depends upon an activator protein that binds DNA far upstream from the promoter and an alternative sigma factor (sigma 54) that binds with the core RNA polymerase at the promoter. In the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus, the NtrB and NtrC proteins (RcNtrB and RcNtrC) are putative members of a two-component system that is novel because the enhancer-binding RcNtrC protein activates transcription of sigma 54-independent promoters. To reconstitute this putative two-component system in vitro, the ReNtrB protein was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified as a maltose-binding protein fusion (MBP-RcNtrB). MBP-RcNtrB autophosphorylates in vitro to the same steady state level and with the same stability as the Salmonella typhimurium NtrB (StNtrB) protein but at a lower initial rate. MBP-RcNtrB autophosphorylates the S.typhimurium NtrC (St-NtrC) and RcNtrC proteins in vitro. The enteric NtrC protein is also phosphorylated in vivo by RcNtrB because plasmids that encode either RcNtrB or MBP-Rc-NtrB activate transcription of an NtrC-dependent nifL-lacZ fusion. The rate of phosphotransfer to RcNtrC and autophosphatase activity of phosphorylated RcNtrC (RcNtrC---P) are comparable to the StNtrC protein. However, the RcNtrC protein appears to be a specific RcNtrB P phosphatase since RcNtrC is not phosphorylated by small molecular weight phosphate compounds or by the StNtrB protein. RcNtrC forms a dimer in solution, and RcNtrC - P binds the upstream tandem binding sites of the g1nB promoter 4-fold better than the unphos-phorylated RcNtrC protein, presumably due to oligomerization of RcNtrC -P. Therefore, the R. capsulatus NtrB and NtrC proteins form a two-component system similar to other NtrC-like systems, where specific Rc- NtrB phosphotransfer to the RcNtrC protein results in increased oligoinerization at the enhancer but with subsequent activation of a sigma 54-independent promoter.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Identification, cloning, and sequence analysis of the nitrogen regulation gene ntrC of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58.

We describe the cloning of an ntrC gene of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 by interspecific complementation of an Escherichia coli ntrC mutant. Restriction mapping and Southern blot analysis of the complementing clone identified a 1.7-kb EcoRI-PvuII DNA fragment whose sequence was determined. Analysis of this sequence revealed coding regions corresponding to a complete ntrC gene and the C-terminal region of an ntrB gene. Amino acid sequence comparisons of A. tumefaciens NTRC protein with NTRC sequences from Rhizobium meliloti, Bradyrhizobium sp. (Parasponia), Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli, and Salmonella typhimurium show strong sequence conservation supporting DNA hybridization data, demonstrating strong evolutionary homology among ntrC genes of Rhizobiaceae. The C58 NTRC protein has been identified, by 35S-labeling, in a T7 RNA polymerase (pT7-7) expression vector system.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens↗

PubMed1987

Identification and characterization of the Rhizobium meliloti ntrC gene: R. meliloti has separate regulatory pathways for activation of nitrogen fixation genes in free-living and symbiotic cells.

We show here that Rhizobium meliloti, the nitrogen-fixing endosymbiont of alfalfa (Medicago sativa), has a regulatory gene that is structurally homologous to previously characterized ntrC genes in enteric bacteria. DNA sequence analysis showed that R. meliloti ntrC is homologous to previously sequenced ntrC genes from Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bradyrhizobium sp. (Parasponia) and that an ntrB-like gene is situated directly upstream from R. meliloti ntrC. Similar to its counterparts in K. pneumoniae and Escherichia coli, R. meliloti ntrC is expressed when the cells are grown in nitrogen-limiting media. In addition, R. meliloti ntrC is required for growth on media containing nitrate as the sole nitrogen source and for the ex planta transcription of several R. meliloti nif genes. On the other hand, root nodules elicited by R. meliloti ntrC mutants fix nitrogen as well as nodules elicited by wild-type R. meliloti. These latter results indicate that R. meliloti has separate regulatory pathways for activating nif gene expression ex planta and during symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed1988

Role of the Bradyrhizobium japonicum ntrC gene product in differential regulation of the glutamine synthetase II gene (glnII).

We isolated the ntrC gene from Bradyrhizobium japonicum, the endosymbiont of soybean (Glycine max), and examined its role in regulating nitrogen assimilation. Two independent ntrC mutants were constructed by gene replacement techniques. One mutant was unable to produce NtrC protein, while the other constitutively produced a stable, truncated NtrC protein. Both ntrC mutants were unable to utilize potassium nitrate as a sole nitrogen source. In contrast to wild-type B. japonicum, the NtrC null mutant lacked glnII transcripts in aerobic, nitrogen-starved cultures. However, the truncated-NtrC mutant expressed glnII in both nitrogen-starved and nitrogen-excess cultures. Both mutants expressed glnII under oxygen-limited culture conditions and in symbiotic cells. These results suggest that nitrogen assimilation in B. japonicum is regulated in response to both nitrogen limitation and oxygen limitation and that separate regulatory networks exist in free-living and symbiotic cells.

Genes↗

PubMed1989

Transcriptional activation of the Klebsiella pneumoniae nifLA promoter by NTRC is face-of-the-helix dependent and the activator stabilizes the interaction of sigma 54-RNA polymerase with the promoter.

Activation of transcription at the Klebsiella pneumoniae nifLA promoter requires the phosphorylated form of the positive control protein NTRC, together with RNA polymerase modified by the alternative sigma factor sigma 54. Dimethylsulphate and potassium permanganate were used as probes to analyse the interaction of NTRC and sigma 54-RNA polymerase with supercoiled nifLA promoter DNA in vitro. In contrast to the glnAp2 promoter, sigma 54 holoenzyme did not protect guanine residues in the nifLA promoter from methylation in the absence of the activator. We propose that NTRC stabilizes the interaction of sigma 54-RNA polymerase with the -24, -12 region, in addition to its role in catalysing open complex formation. Phosphorylated NTRC binds to two sites located greater than 100 nucleotides upstream of the -24, -12 region; it also induces hyper-methylation of a G residue at -23. Enhanced methylation at -23 is not co-operative with the binding of activator to the upstream sites and may account for the ability of NTRC, when present at high concentration, to activate transcription in the absence of the upstream binding sites. The insertion of spacer mutations at -86 indicates that transcriptional activation of the nifLA promoter at low NTRC concentrations is face-of-the-helix dependent, both in vivo and in vitro. We propose that correct positioning of activator molecules at the upstream binding sites stabilizes the interaction of sigma 54-RNA polymerase with the downstream region via the formation of a DNA loop.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed1982

Cloning of the glnA, ntrB and ntrC genes of Klebsiella pneumoniae and studies of their role in regulation of the nitrogen fixation (nif) gene cluster.

The glnA, ntrB and ntrC genes of Klebsiella pneumoniae have been cloned, on a 12 kb HindIII fragment, into the plasmid pACYC184. In a coupled in vitro transcription/translation system the resultant plasmid, pGE100, directed synthesis of five polypeptides (molecular weights 73, 53, 51, 39, 36 kd) from the cloned fragment. A number of plasmids were derived from pGE100 and studied by complementation analysis and in vitro transcription/translation in order to locate particular genes and identify their products. On the basis of the results presented here, together with previous genetic and physical characterisation of the glnA gene and its product in other enteric bacteria, we propose that the 53 kd polypeptide is the glnA gene product (glutamine synthetase monomer). Two polypeptides (36 kd and 51 kd) were synthesised from a 3 kb region previously defined as glnR. In E. coli and S. typhimurium this region comprises two genes ntrB and ntrC with products of 36 kd and 54 kd respectively. This analogy supports the idea that the 36 kd and 51 kd polypeptides are the products of the K. pneumoniae ntrB and ntrC genes respectively. Comparison of these assignments with the physical map of the region indicates a gene order glnA, ntrB, ntrC. Assessment of the Nif phenotype of a glnA-ntrC deletion strain carrying various clones from pGE100 demonstrated that glnA is not required for expression of the nif regulon and that of the three genes cloned, ntrC alone is sufficient for nif expression.

Cloning, Molecular↗

PubMed1991

Influence of a mutation in the putative nucleotide binding site of the nitrogen regulatory protein NTRC on its positive control function.

A mutation, serine 170 to alanine, in the proposed ATP binding site of the activator protein NTRC prevents transcriptional activation at sigma 54-dependent promoters both in vivo and in vitro. The rate of phosphorylation of the mutant protein by NTRB and the stability of mutant NTRC-phosphate were similar to those of wild-type NTRC. The phosphorylated mutant protein shows only a slight decrease in affinity (around 2-fold) for tandem NTRC binding sites in the Klebsiella pneumoniae nifL promoter suggesting that the mutation primarily influences the positive control function of NTRC. Moreover the mutant protein is trans dominant to the wild-type protein with respect to transcriptional activation at both the glnAp2 and nifL promoters. In vitro footprinting experiments reveal that the mutant protein is unable to catalyse isomerisation of closed promoter complexes between sigma 54-RNA polymerase and the nifL promoter to open promoter complexes. However, the mutant protein retains the ability to increase the occupancy of the -24, -12 region by sigma 54-RNA polymerase, forming closed complexes at the nifL promoter, which are not detectable in the absence of NTRC. These data support a model in which the activator influences the formation of closed complexes at the nifL promoter in addition to its role in catalysing open complex formation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1992

Phosphorylation site of NtrC, a protein phosphatase whose covalent intermediate activates transcription.

The NtrC transcription factor is a member of a family of homologous prokaryotic regulatory proteins that participate in the transduction of extracellular and nutritional signals. It has been demonstrated that the phosphate group from a histidine residue of the phosphorylated NtrB protein autokinase is transferred to the NtrC protein. Phosphorylation of the NtrC protein is transient and activates its transcriptional enhancement activity. We have investigated the site of phosphorylation of the Salmonella typhimurium NtrC protein and find that it is an aspartate residue (Asp-54) that is found within a sequence conserved in all of the members of the family of regulatory proteins. We propose that this phosphorylation is an NtrC protein histidine phosphatase catalytic intermediate. This conclusion suggests that the NtrC family should be viewed not as kinase substrates but as enzymes that can catalyze the hydrolysis of their activated forms in a concentration-independent fashion. They are similar in this sense to eukaryotic signal-transducing GTPases.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗