title: Identification of a gene (arpU) controlling muramidase-2 export in Enterococcus hirae.
abstract: Muramidase-2 of Enterococcus hirae is a 74-kDa peptidoglycan hydrolase that plays a role in cell wall growth and division. To study its regulation, we isolated a mutant defective in muramidase-2 release under certain growth conditions. This mutant had cell walls which apparently lacked 74-kDa muramidase-2 but which accumulated two proteolytic fragments of 32 and 43 kDa, which exhibited muramidase-2 activity in the membrane fraction. By complementation cloning, we identified a 2.6-kb fragment of the E. hirae chromosome containing a gene cluster coding for proteins of 58 to 137 amino acids. One of these genes (arpU), which encoded a 15.9-kDa protein, was shown to complement the defect of the A9 mutant in trans. We propose that this gene may be involved in the regulation of muramidase-2 export.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University of Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lleò
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Solioz
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001433:Bacteriolysis; D001483:Base Sequence; D001692:Biological Transport; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009113:Muramidase / Q000378:metabolism*; D016296:Mutagenesis; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C096204:arpU protein, Enterococcus hirae; D009113:Muramidase