Inhibition of ammonium (methylammonium) transport in Klebsiella pneumoniae by glutamine and glutamine analogues

A protet-based, protonic charge transfer model of energy coupling in oxidative and photosynthetic phosphorylation

Textbooks of biochemistry will explain that the otherwise endergonic reactions of ATP synthesis can be driven by the exergonic reactions of respiratory electron transport, and that these two half-reactions are catalyzed by protein complexes embedded in the same, closed membrane. These views are correct. The textbooks also state that, according to the chemiosmotic coupling hypothesis, a (or the) kinetically and thermodynamically competent intermediate linking the two half-reactions is the electrochemical difference of protons that is in equilibrium with that between the two bulk phases that the coupling membrane serves to separate. This gradient consists of a membrane potential term Δψ and a pH gradient term ΔpH, and is known colloquially as the protonmotive force or pmf. Artificial imposition of a pmf can drive phosphorylation, but only if the pmf exceeds some 150-170mV; to achieve in vivo rates the imposed pmf must reach 200mV. The key question then is 'does the pmf generated by electron transport exceed 200mV, or even 170mV?' The possibly surprising answer, from a great many kinds of experiment and sources of evidence, including direct measurements with microelectrodes, indicates it that it does not. Observable pH changes driven by electron transport are real, and they control various processes; however, compensating ion movements restrict the Δψ component to low values. A protet-based model, that I outline here, can account for all the necessary observations, including all of those inconsistent with chemiosmotic coupling, and provides for a variety of testable hypotheses by which it might be refined.

Multiplicity of ammonium uptake systems in Corynebacterium glutamicum: role of Amt and AmtB

In Corynebacterium glutamicum, a Gram-positive soil bacterium widely used in the industrial production of amino acids, two genes encoding (putative) ammonium uptake carriers have been described. The isolation of amt was the first report of the sequence of a gene encoding a bacterial ammonium uptake system combined with the characterization of the corresponding protein. Recently, a second amt gene, amtB, with so far unknown function, was isolated. The isolation of this gene and the suggestion of a new concept for ammonium acquisition prompted the reinvestigation of ammonium transport in C. glutamicum. In this study it is shown that Amt mediates uptake of (methyl)ammonium into the cell with high affinity and strictly depending on the membrane potential. As shown by the determination of K:(m) at different pH values, ammonium/methylammonium, but not ammonia/methylamine, are substrates of Amt. AmtB exclusively accepts ammonium as a transport substrate. In addition, hints of another, until now unknown, low-affinity, ammonium-specific uptake system were found.

AmtR, a global repressor in the nitrogen regulation system of Corynebacterium glutamicum

The uptake and assimilation of nitrogen sources is effectively regulated in bacteria. In the Gram-negative enterobacterium Escherichia coli, the NtrB/C two-component system is responsible for the activation of transcription of different enzymes and transporters, depending on the nitrogen status of the cell. In this study, we investigated regulation of ammonium uptake in Corynebacterium glutamicum, a Gram-positive soil bacterium closely related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. As shown by Northern blot hybridizations, regulation occurs on the level of transcription upon nitrogen starvation. In contrast to enterobacteria, a repressor protein is involved in regulation, as revealed by measurements of methylammonium uptake and beta-galactosidase activity in reporter strains. The repressor-encoding gene, designated amtR, was isolated and sequenced. Deletion of amtR led to deregulation of transcription of amt coding for the C. glutamicum (methyl)ammonium uptake system. E. coli extracts from amtR-expressing cells were applied in gel retardation experiments, and binding of AmtR to the amt upstream region was observed. By deletion analyses, a target motif for AmtR binding was identified, and binding of purified AmtR protein to this motif, ATCTATAGN1-4ATAG, was shown. Furthermore, the binding of AmtR to this sequence was proven in vivo using a yeast one-hybrid system. Subsequent studies showed that AmtR not only regulates transcription of the amt gene but also of the amtB-glnK-glnD operon encoding an amt paralogue, the signal transduction protein PII and the uridylyltransferase/uridylyl-removing enzyme, key components of the nitrogen regulatory cascade. In summary, regulation of ammonium uptake and assimilation in the high G+C content Gram-positive bacterium C. glutamicum differs significantly from the mechanism found in the low G+C content Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis and from the paradigm of nitrogen control in the Gram-negative enterobacteria.

Regulation of urea uptake inPseudomonas aeruginosa

The energy-dependent urea permease was studied in two strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, measuring the uptake (transport and metabolism) of 14C-urea. In both strains urea uptake in vivo and urease activity in vitro differed significantly with respect to kinetic parameters, temperature and pH dependence and response to metabolic inhibitors. Ammonium strongly interfered both with the expression of the urea uptake system and its activity. The inhibition of the uptake activity by ammonium was partially relieved by hydraziniumsulfate, which prevented the translocation of ammonium into the cell, and in a methylammonium/ammonium transport-defective mutant of strain DSM 50071. Furthermore, methionine-sulfoximine, which prevented the intracellular glutamine formation from ammonium via inhibition of glutamine synthetase, relieved the inhibition of urea uptake by ammonium. These findings suggested that urea uptake activity in P. aeruginosa is regulated by intracellular glutamine.

Regulation of assimilatory nitrate reductase activity in soil by microbial assimilation of ammonium

It is well established that assimilatory nitrate reductase (ANR) activity in soil is inhibited by ammonium (NH4+). To elucidate the mechanism of this inhibition, we studied the effect of L-methionine sulfoximine (MSX), an inhibitor of NH4+ assimilation by microorganisms, on assimilatory reduction of nitrate (NO3-) in aerated soil slurries treated with NH4+. We found that NH4+ strongly inhibited ANR activity in these slurries and that MSX eliminated this inhibition. We also found that MSX induced dissimilatory reduction of NO3- to NH4+ in soil and that the NH4+ thus formed had no effect on the rate of NO-3 reduction. We concluded from these observations that the inhibition of ANR activity by NH4+ is due not to NH4+ per se but to products formed by microbial assimilation of NH4+. This conclusion was supported by a study of the effects of early products of NH4+ assimilation (L amino acids) on ANR activity in soil, because this study showed that the biologically active, L isomers of glutamine and asparagine strongly inhibited ANR activity, whereas the D isomers of these amino acids had little effect on ANR activity. Evidence that ANR activity is regulated by the glutamine formed by NH4+ assimilation was provided by studies showing that inhibitors of glutamine metabolism (azaserine, albizziin, and aminooxyacetate) inhibited ANR activity in soil treated with NO3- but did not do so in the presence of MSX.

Influence of amino acids on nitrogen fixation ability and growth of Azospirillum spp

The utilization of amino acids for growth and their effects on nitrogen fixation differ greatly among the several strains of each species of Azospirillum spp. that were examined. A. brasiliense grew poorly or not at all on glutamate, aspartate, serine, or histidine as the sole nitrogen and carbon sources. Nitrogen fixation by most A. brasiliense strains was inhibited only slightly even by 10 mM concentrations of these amino acids. In contrast, A. lipoferum and A. amazonense grew very well on glutamate, aspartate, serine, or histidine as the sole nitrogen and carbon sources; nitrogen fixation, which was measured in the presence of malate or sucrose, was severely inhibited by these amino acids. It was concluded that growth on histidine as the sole source of nitrogen, carbon, and energy may be used for the taxonomic characterization of Azospirillum spp. and for the selective isolation of A. lipoferum. The different utilization of various amino acids by Azospirillum spp. may be important for their establishment in the rhizosphere and for their associative nitrogen fixation with plants. The physiological basis for the different utilization of glutamate by Azospirillum spp. was investigated further. A. brasiliense and A. lipoferum exhibited a high affinity for glutamate uptake (Km values for uptake were 8 and 40 microM, respectively); the Vmax was 6 times higher in A. lipoferum than in A. brasiliense. At high substrate concentrations (10 mM), the nonsaturable component of glutamate uptake was most active in A. lipoferum and A. amazonense.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Feedback inhibition of ammonium (methylammonium) ion transport in Escherichia coli by glutamine and glutamine analogs

When cultured with glutamate or glutamine as the nitrogen source, Escherichia coli expresses a specific ammonium (methylammonium) transport system. Over 95% of the methylammonium transport activity in washed cells was blocked by incubation with 100 microM L-glutamine in the presence of chloramphenicol (100 micrograms/ml). The time course for the onset of this glutamine inhibition followed a first-order rate expression with a t1/2 of 2.8 min. The inhibition of transport by L-glutamine was noncompetitive (Ki = 18 microM) with respect to the [14C]methylammonium substrate. D-Glutamine had no significant effect. The glutamine analogs gamma-L-glutamyl hydroxamate (Ki = 360 microM) and gamma-L-glutamyl hydrazide (Ki = 800 microM) were also noncompetitive inhibitors of methylammonium transport, suggesting that glutamine metabolism is not required. The role of the intracellular glutamine pool in the regulation of ammonium transport was investigated by using mutants carrying defects in the operon of glnP, the gene for the glutamine transporter. The glnP mutants had normal rates of methylammonium transport but were refractory to glutamine inhibition. Glycylglycine, a noncompetitive inhibitor of methylammonium uptake in wild-type cells (Ki = 43 microM), was equipotent in blocking transport in glnP mutants. Although ammonium transport is also subject to repression by growth of E. coli in the presence of ammonia, this phenomenon is unrelated to glutamine inhibition. A GlnL RegC mutant which constitutively expressed ammonium transport activity exhibited a sensitivity to glutamine inhibition similar to that of wild-type cells. These findings indicate that ammonium transport in E. coli is regulated by the internal glutamine pool via feedback inhibition.

Some regulatory aspects of [(14)C]methylamine influx intoPisum sativum L. cv. Feltham First seedlings

[(14)C]Methylamine influx intoPisum sativum L. cv. Feltham First seedlings showed Michaelis-Menten-type kinetics with apparentV max=49.2 μmol·g(-1) FW·h(-1) and apparentK m=0.51 mM. The competitive interactions between ammonium and methylamine were most obvious when biphasic kinetics were assumed with saturation of the first phase at ∼0.05 mM. The inhibitor constant for ammonium (K i)=0.027 mM. When [(14)C]methylamine was used in trace amounts with ammonium added as substrate, the influx of tracer showed Michaelis-Menten-type kinetics with apparentV max=3.46 μmol·g(-1) FW·h(-1) and apparentK m=0.15 mM. The initial rate of net ammonium uptake corresponded with that found when [(14)C]methylamine was used to 'trace' ammonium influx. The latter was also stimulated by high pHo and inhibited by nitrate. Ammonium pretreatment±methionine sulphoximine or glutamine pretreatment of the seedlings inhibited subsequent [(14)C]methylamine influx, while methylamine or asparagine pretreatment stimulated [(14)C]methylamine influx. There was also a stimulatory effect of prior inoculation withRhizobium. The results are discussed in terms of current models for the regulation of ammonium uptake in plants.

The role of glutamine in regulation of ammonium transport in Azotobacter vinelandii

Under N2-fixing conditions, Azotobacter vinelandii expresses a specific transport system for methylammonium (ammonium) [E. M. Barnes, Jr. and P. Zimniak (1981) J. Bacteriol. 146, 512-516]. This activity is decreased markedly by culture of cells in the presence of 10 mM ammonium or 2 mM methylammonium; in both cases, the Vmax values for methylammonium uptake were 25% of those of N2-fixing cells. Mixing experiments with assay medium indicate that transport activity is controlled by intracellular rather than extracellular metabolites. Glutamine synthetase activity of cells cultured with ammonium was 33% that of N2-fixing cultures, but activity was unaffected by incubation with methylammonium. Thus ammonium transport and ammonium fixation are regulated independently. When ammonium was removed from the medium, cells recovered over 90% of the initial transport activity after 1 h; this recovery was not affected by addition of chloramphenicol. The loss of uptake activity in cells incubated with ammonium or methylammonium correlated with over sixfold increases in intracellular levels of glutamine and gamma-glutamylmethylamide, respectively. Recovery of transport was accompanied by similar reductions in pools of these compounds. Over one-half of methylammonium transport activity could be blocked by direct addition of 10 mM glutamine or gamma-glutamylmethylamide to transport assays; these concentrations were similar to those observed in vivo. The glutamine analog, 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine, was the most potent inhibitor found (68% inhibition at 10 microM). These results indicate that the regulation of ammonium transport by ammonium and methylammonium is due to inhibition of the transporter by intracellular gamma-glutamyl amides rather than by repression of transporter synthesis.

Uptake of methionine sulfoximine by some N2 fixing bacteria, and its effect on ammonium transport

The N2 fixing bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae, Azospirillum brasilense, Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides and Rhodospirillum rubrum, but not Azotobacter vinelandii accumulate the glutamine analogue methionine sulfoximine in the cell. In the accumulating cells methionine sulfoximine inhibits ammonium transport. Accumulation and inhibition are prevented by glutamine.

Evidence for ammonia as an inhibitor of heterocyst and nitrogenase formation in the cyanobacterium Anabaena cycadeae

Growth and regulation of heterocyst and nitrogenase by fixed nitrogen sources were studied comparatively in parent and glutamine auxotrophic mutant of Anabaena cycadeae. The parent strain grew well on N2, NH+4 or glutamine while the mutant strain grew on glutamine but not on N2 or NH+4. The total lack of active glutamine synthetase in the mutant strain thus appears to be the reason for its observed lack of growth in N2 or NH+4, which explains why it is a glutamine auxotroph and at the same time shows glutamine synthetase to be the sole primary ammonia assimilating enzyme. NH+4 repression of heterocyst and nitrogenase in the mutant and the parental strains and their derepression by L-methionine-DL-sulfoximine suggest that NH+4 per se and not glutamine synthetase mediated pathway of ammonia assimilation is the initial repressor signal of heterocyst and nitrogenase in A. cycadeae.