title: Identification of a soluble diacylglycerol kinase required for lipoteichoic acid production in Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: Diacylglycerol kinases (DagKs) are key enzymes in lipid metabolism that function to reintroduce diacylglycerol formed from the hydrolysis of phospholipids into the biosynthetic pathway. Bacillus subtilis is a prototypical Gram-positive bacterium with a lipoteichoic acid structure containing repeating units of sn-glycerol-1-P groups derived from phosphatidylglycerol head groups. The B. subtilis homolog of the prokaryotic DagK gene family (dgkA; Pfam01219) was not a DagK but rather was an undecaprenol kinase. The three members of the soluble DagK protein family (Pfam00781) in B. subtilis were tested by complementation of an E. coli dgkA mutant, and only the essential yerQ gene possessed DagK activity. This gene was dubbed dgkB, and the soluble protein product was purified, and its DagK activity was verified in vitro. Conditional inactivation of dgkB led to the accumulation of diacylglycerol and the cessation of lipoteichoic acid formation in B. subtilis. This study identifies a soluble protein encoded by the dgkB (yerQ) gene as an essential kinase in the diacylglycerol cycle that drives lipoteichoic acid production.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105-2794, USA.
authors.forename: Agoston
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jerga
authors.forename: Ying-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Gustavo E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Schujman
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de Mendoza
authors.forename: Charles O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Rock
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017931:DNA Primers; D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D007700:Kinetics; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010957:Plasmids; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013682:Teichoic Acids; C009900:lipoteichoic acid; D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase