title: Pathway of ammonium assimilation in Streptomyces venezuelae examined by amino acid analyses and 15N nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
abstract: To obtain information on the route(s) of ammonium assimilation in Streptomyces venezuelae, cell suspensions transferred to fresh medium lacking nitrogen were pulsed with [15N2]ammonium sulphate. Cells and extracellular fluids were examined by nuclear magnetic resonance and amino acid analysis to assess changes in amino acid pools and the disposition of [15N]ammonium. Following addition of [15N]ammonium, glutamate--glutamine pools of low cell density replacement cultures expanded rapidly and became progressively labelled with 15N, whereas the alanine pool size increased much more slowly and became labelled with 15N to a much lesser extent. These results are consistent with the assimilation of ammonium via glutamate dehydrogenase or glutamine synthetase--glutamate synthase rather than alanine dehydrogenase. Under anaerobic conditions, S. venezuelae assimilates ammonium into alanine rather than glutamate--glutamine. Alanine dehydrogenase may thus function as a vehicle to regenerate NAD+ to maintain substrate-level phosphorylation during periods of anaerobiosis.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laycock
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: McInnes
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Vining
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000378:metabolism; D000645:Ammonium Sulfate / Q000378:metabolism*; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D005971:Glutamates / Q000378:metabolism; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005973:Glutamine / Q000378:metabolism; D007656:Ketoglutaric Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009590:Nitrogen Radioisotopes; D011773:Pyruvates / Q000378:metabolism; D019289:Pyruvic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005971:Glutamates; D007656:Ketoglutaric Acids; D009590:Nitrogen Radioisotopes; D011773:Pyruvates; D005973:Glutamine; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D019289:Pyruvic Acid; D000409:Alanine; D000645:Ammonium Sulfate