title: The RihA, RihB, and RihC ribonucleoside hydrolases of Escherichia coli. Substrate specificity, gene expression, and regulation.
abstract: Pyrimidine-requiring cdd mutants of Escherichia coli deficient in cytidine deaminase utilize cytidine as a pyrimidine source by an alternative pathway. This has been presumed to involve phosphorylation of cytidine to CMP by cytidine/uridine kinase and subsequent hydrolysis of CMP to cytosine and ribose 5-phosphate by a putative CMP hydrolase. Here we show that cytidine, in cdd strains, is converted directly to cytosine and ribose by a ribonucleoside hydrolase encoded by the previously uncharacterized gene ybeK, which we have renamed rihA. The RihA enzyme is homologous to the products of two unlinked genes, yeiK and yaaF, which have been renamed rihB and rihC, respectively. The RihB enzyme was shown to be a pyrimidine-specific ribonucleoside hydrolase like RihA, whereas RihC hydrolyzed both pyrimidine and purine ribonucleosides. The physiological function of the ribonucleoside hydrolases in wild-type E. coli strains is enigmatic, as their activities are paralleled by the phosphorolytic activities of the nucleoside phosphorylases, and a triple mutant lacking all three hydrolytic activities grew normally. Furthermore, enzyme assays and lacZ gene fusion analysis indicated that rihB was essentially silent unless activated by mutation, whereas rihA and rihC were poorly expressed in glucose medium due to catabolite repression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Copenhagen, Sølvgade 83H, DK1307 Copenhagen K, Denmark. carstenpt@mermaid.molbio.ku.dk
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Møller
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000201:enzymology; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009699:N-Glycosyl Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D009699:N-Glycosyl Hydrolases; C422987:RihA protein, E coli; C422988:RihB protein, E coli; C422989:RihC protein, E coli