title: Agmatine is essential for the cell growth of Thermococcus kodakaraensis.
abstract: TK0149 (designated as Tk-PdaD) of a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus kodakaraensis, was annotated as pyruvoyl-dependent arginine decarboxylase, which catalyzes agmatine formation by the decarboxylation of arginine as the first step of polyamine biosynthesis. In order to investigate its physiological roles, Tk-PdaD was purified as a recombinant form, and its substrate dependency was examined using the candidate compounds arginine, ornithine and lysine. Tk-PdaD, expressed in Escherichia coli, was cleaved into alpha and beta subunits, as other pyruvoyl-dependent enzymes, and the resulting subunits formed an (alphabeta)6 complex. The Tk-PdaD complex catalyzed the decarboxylation of arginine but not that of ornithine and lysine. A gene disruptant lacking Tk-pdaD was constructed, showing that it grew only in the medium in the presence of agmatine but not in the absence of agmatine. The obtained results indicate that Tk-pdaD encodes a pyruvoyl-dependent arginine decarboxylase and that agmatine is essential for the cell growth of T. kodakaraensis.
authors.affiliation: Nanobiotechnology Research Center, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kwansei-Gakuin University, Sanda, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Wakao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Nanako
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Tadayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imanaka
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
mesh_terms: D000376:Agmatine / Q000378:metabolism*; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases / Q000378:metabolism; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011073:Polyamines / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D019712:Thermococcus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011073:Polyamines; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000376:Agmatine; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases; C019722:arginine decarboxylase