title: Identification of tms-26 as an allele of the gcaD gene, which encodes N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate uridyltransferase in Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: The temperature-sensitive Bacillus subtilis tms-26 mutant strain was characterized biochemically and shown to be defective in N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate uridyltransferase activity. At the permissive temperature (34 degrees C), the mutant strain contained about 15% of the wild-type activity of this enzyme, whereas at the nonpermissive temperature (48 degrees C), the mutant enzyme was barely detectable. Furthermore, the N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate uridyltransferase activity of the tms-26 mutant strain was much more heat labile in vitro than that of the wild-type strain. The level of N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate, the substrate of the uridyltransferase activity, was elevated more than 40-fold in the mutant strain at the permissive temperature compared with the level in the wild-type strain. During a temperature shift, the level of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, the product of the uridyltransferase activity, decreased much more in the mutant strain than in the wild-type strain. An Escherichia coli strain harboring the wild-type version of the tms-26 allele on a plasmid contained increased N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate uridyltransferase activity compared with that in the haploid strain. It is suggested that the gene for N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate uridyltransferase in B. subtilis be designated gcaD.
authors.affiliation: University Institute of Biological Chemistry B, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hove-Jensen
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007700:Kinetics; D010770:Phosphotransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D013403:Sugar Phosphates / Q000032:analysis; D017855:Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups); D014539:Uridine Diphosphate Sugars / Q000032:analysis; D014542:Uridine Monophosphate / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D013403:Sugar Phosphates; D014539:Uridine Diphosphate Sugars; D014542:Uridine Monophosphate; D010770:Phosphotransferases; D017855:Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups); C023222:UDPacetylglucosamine-dolichyl-phosphate acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate transferase