title: Characterization of the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene from Corynebacterium glutamicum and significance of the enzyme for growth and amino acid production.
abstract: Corynebacterium glutamicum possesses phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxykinase, oxaloacetate decarboxylase and malic enzyme, all three in principle being able to catalyze the first step in gluconeogenesis. To investigate the role of PEP carboxykinase for growth and amino acid production, the respective pck gene was isolated, characterized and used for construction and analysis of mutants and overexpressing strains. Sequence analysis of the pck gene predicts a polypeptide of 610 amino acids showing up to 64% identity with ITP-/GTP-dependent PEP carboxykinases from other organisms. C. glutamicum cells harbouring pck on plasmid showed about tenfold higher specific PEP carboxykinase activities than the wildtype. Inactivation of the chromosomal pck gene led to the absence of PEP carboxykinase activity and the inability to grow on acetate or lactate indicating that the enzyme is essential for growth on these carbon sources and thus, for gluconeogenesis. The growth on glucose was not affected. Examination of glutamate production by the recombinant C. glutamicum strains revealed that the PEP carboxykinase-deficient mutant showed about fourfold higher, the pck-overexpressing strain two- to threefold lower glutamate production than the parental strain. Inactivation and overexpression of pck in a lysine-producer of C. glutamicum led to an only 20% higher and lower lysine accumulation, respectively. The results show that PEP carboxykinase activity in C. glutamicum is counteractive to the production of glutamate and lysine and indicate that the enzyme is an important target in the development of strains producing amino acids derived from citric acid cycle intermediates.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Riedel
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rittmann
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dangel
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Möckel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sahm
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Eikmanns
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003352:Corynebacterium / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D008239:Lysine / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010729:Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase (GTP) / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D010729:Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase (GTP); D008239:Lysine