Biotin concentration affects anaplerotic reactions functioning in glutamic acid production in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

The study investigates the effect of biotin concentration on the role of anaplerotic reactions catalysed by pyruvate carboxylase (PC) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) in glutamic acid production by Corynebacterium glutamicum. C. glutamicum requires biotin for its growth, and its glutamic acid production can be induced by the addition of Tween 40 or penicillin or by biotin limitation. The biotin enzyme PC and the non-biotin enzyme PEPC catalyse two anaplerotic reactions to supply oxaloacetic acid to the TCA cycle in C. glutamicum. Therefore, they are crucial for glutamic acid production in this bacterium. In this study, we investigated the contribution of each anaplerotic reaction to Tween 40- and penicillin-induced glutamic acid production using disruptants of PEPC and PC. In the presence of 20 µg l-1 biotin, which is sufficient for growth, the PEPC-catalysed anaplerotic reaction mainly contributed to Tween 40- and penicillin-induced glutamic acid production. However, when increasing biotin concentration 10-fold (i.e. 200 µg l-1), both PC- and PEPC-catalysed reactions could function in glutamic acid production. Western blotting revealed that the amount of biotin-bound PC was reduced by the addition of Tween 40 and penicillin in the presence of 20 µg l-1. However, these induction treatments did not change the amount of biotin-bound PC in the presence of 200 µg l-1 biotin. These results indicate that both anaplerotic reactions are functional during glutamic acid production in C. glutamicum and that biotin concentration mainly affects which anaplerotic reactions function during glutamic acid production.

A Secondary Metabolic Enzyme Functioned as an Evolutionary Seed of a Primary Metabolic Enzyme.

The antibiotic alaremycin has a structure that resembles that of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), a universal precursor of porphyrins, and inhibits porphyrin biosynthesis. Genome sequencing of the alaremycin-producing bacterial strain and enzymatic analysis revealed that the first step of alaremcyin biosynthesis is catalysed by the enzyme, AlmA, which exhibits a high degree of similarity to 5-aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS) expressed by animals, protozoa, fungi, and α-proteobacteria. Site-directed mutagenesis of AlmA revealed that the substitution of two amino acids residues around the substrate binding pocket transformed its substrate specificity from that of alaremycin precursor synthesis to ALA synthesis. To estimate the evolutionary trajectory of AlmA and ALAS, we performed an ancestral sequence reconstitution analysis based on a phylogenetic tree of AlmA and ALAS. The reconstructed common ancestral enzyme of AlmA and ALAS exhibited alaremycin precursor synthetic activity, rather than ALA synthetic activity. These results suggest that ALAS evolved from an AlmA-like enzyme. We propose a new evolutionary hypothesis in which a non-essential secondary metabolic enzyme acts as an 'evolutionary seed' to generate an essential primary metabolic enzyme.

Mining RNA-seq data reveals the massive regulon of GcvB small RNA and its physiological significance in maintaining amino acid homeostasis in Escherichia coli.

Bacterial small RNAs regulate the expression of multiple genes through imperfect base-pairing with target mRNAs mediated by RNA chaperone proteins such as Hfq. GcvB is the master sRNA regulator of amino acid metabolism and transport in a wide range of Gram-negative bacteria. Recently, independent RNA-seq approaches identified a plethora of transcripts interacting with GcvB in Escherichia coli. In this study, the compilation of RIL-seq, CLASH, and MAPS data sets allowed us to identify GcvB targets with high accuracy. We validated 21 new GcvB targets repressed at the posttranscriptional level, raising the number of direct targets to >50 genes in E. coli. Among its multiple seed sequences, GcvB utilizes either R1 or R3 to regulate most of these targets. Furthermore, we demonstrated that both R1 and R3 seed sequences are required to fully repress the expression of gdhA, cstA, and sucC genes. In contrast, the ilvLXGMEDA polycistronic mRNA is targeted by GcvB through at least four individual binding sites in the mRNA. Finally, we revealed that GcvB is involved in the susceptibility of peptidase-deficient E. coli strain (Δpeps) to Ala-Gln dipeptide by regulating both Dpp dipeptide importer and YdeE dipeptide exporter via R1 and R3 seed sequences, respectively.

Effects of EGTA on cell surface structures of Corynebacterium glutamicum.

The mycolic acid layer and S-layer of Corynebacterium glutamicum have been considered as permeability barriers against lytic agents. EGTA, a calcium chelator, inhibited C. glutamicum growth at relatively lower concentrations compared with other Gram-positive bacteria. We investigated the effect of EGTA on C. glutamicum cell surface structures. Simultaneous addition of EGTA and lysozyme resulted in cell lysis, whereas addition of these reagents separately had no such effect. Analysis of cell surface proteins showed that CspB, an S-layer protein, was released into the culture media and degraded to several sizes upon EGTA treatment. These findings suggest that EGTA treatment causes release and proteolysis of the CspB protein, resulting in increased cell surface permeability. FE-SEM visualization further confirmed alteration of cell surface structures in EGTA-treated cells. This is the first report suggesting the importance of calcium ions in cell surface integrity of C. glutamicum.

Polynucleotide Phosphorylase, RNase E/G, and YbeY Are Involved in the Maturation of 4.5S RNA in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Corynebacterium glutamicum has been applied for the industrial production of various metabolites, such as amino acids. To understand the biosynthesis of the membrane protein in this bacterium, we investigated the process of signal recognition particle (SRP) assembly. SRP is found in all three domains of life and plays an important role in the membrane insertion of proteins. SRP RNA is initially transcribed as precursor molecules; however, relatively little is known about its maturation. In C. glutamicum, SRP consists of the Ffh protein and 4.5S RNA lacking an Alu domain. In this study, we found that 3'-to-5' exoribonuclease, polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), and two endo-type RNases, RNase E/G and YbeY, are involved in the 3' maturation of 4.5S RNA in C. glutamicum The mature form of 4.5S RNA was inefficiently formed in ΔrneG Δpnp mutant cells, suggesting the existence of an alternative pathway for the 3' maturation of 4.5S RNA. Primer extension analysis also revealed that the 5' mature end of 4.5S RNA corresponds to that of the transcriptional start site. Immunoprecipitated Ffh protein contained immature 4.5S RNA in Δpnp, ΔrneG, and ΔybeY mutants, suggesting that 4.5S RNA precursors can interact with Ffh. These results imply that the maturation of 4.5S RNA can be performed in the 4.5S RNA-Ffh complex.IMPORTANCE Overproduction of a membrane protein, such as a transporter, is useful for engineering of strains of Corynebacterium glutamicum, which is a workhorse of amino acid production. To understand membrane protein biogenesis in this bacterium, we investigated the process of signal recognition particle (SRP) assembly. SRP contains the Ffh protein and SRP RNA and plays an important role in the membrane insertion of proteins. Although SRP RNA is highly conserved among the three domains of life, relatively little is known about its maturation. We show that PNPase, RNase E/G, and YbeY are involved in the 3' maturation of the SRP RNA (4.5S RNA) in this bacterium. This indicates that 3' end processing in this organism is different from that in other bacteria, such as Escherichia coli.

High crude violacein production from glucose by Escherichia coli engineered with interactive control of tryptophan pathway and violacein biosynthetic pathway.

BACKGROUND: As bacteria-originated crude violacein, a natural indolocarbazole product, consists of violacein and deoxyviolacein, and can potentially be a new type of natural antibiotics, the reconstruction of an effective metabolic pathway for crude violacein (violacein and deoxyviolacein mixture) synthesis directly from glucose in Escherichia coli was of importance for developing industrial production process. RESULTS: Strains with a multivariate module for varied tryptophan productivities were firstly generated by combinatorial knockout of trpR/tnaA/pheA genes and overexpression of two key genes trpEfbr /trpD from the upstream tryptophan metabolic pathway. Then, the gene cluster of violacein biosynthetic pathway was introduced downstream of the generated tryptophan pathway. After combination of these two pathways, maximum crude violacein production directly from glucose by E. coli B2/pED+pVio was realized with a titer of 0.6±0.01 g L(-1) in flask culture, which was four fold higher than that of the control without the tryptophan pathway up-regulation. In a 5-L bioreactor batch fermentation with glucose as the carbon source, the recombinant E. coli B2/pED+pVio exhibited a crude violacein titer of 1.75 g L(-1) and a productivity of 36 mg L(-1) h(-1), which was the highest titer and productivity reported so far under the similar culture conditions without tryptophan addition. CONCLUSION: Metabolic pathway analysis using 13C labeling illustrated that the up-regulated tryptophan supply enhanced tryptophan metabolism from glucose, whereas the introduction of violacein pathway drew more carbon flux from glucose to tryptophan, thereby contributing to the effective production of crude violacein in the engineered E. coli cell factory.

Degradation of benzotrifluoride via the dioxygenase pathway in Rhodococcus sp. 065240.

We previously isolated Rhodococcus sp. 065240, which catalyzes the defluorination of benzotrifluoride (BTF). In order to investigate the mechanism of this degradation of BTF, we performed proteomic analysis of cells grown with or without BTF. Three proteins, which resemble dioxygenase pathway enzymes responsible for isopropylbenzene degradation from Rhodococcus erythropolis BD2, were induced by BTF. Genomic PCR and DNA sequence analysis revealed that the Rhodococcus sp. 065240 carries the gene cluster, btf, which is highly homologous to the ipb gene cluster from R. erythropolis BD2. A mutant strain, which could not catalyze BTF defluorination, was isolated from 065240 strain by UV mutagenesis. The mutant strain had one mutation in the btfT gene, which encodes a response regulator of the two component system. The defluorinating ability of the mutant strain was recovered by complementation of btfT. These results suggest that the btf gene cluster is responsible for degradation of BTF.

Characterization of a Corynebacterium glutamicum dnaB mutant that shows temperature-sensitive growth and mini-cell formation.

Corynebacterium glutamicum is known to perform a unique form of cell division called post-fission snapping division. In order to investigate the mechanism of cell division of this bacterium, we isolated temperature-sensitive mutants from C. glutamicum wild-type strain ATCC 31831, and found that one of them, M45, produced high frequencies of mini-cells with no nucleoids. Cell pairs composed of an elongated cell, with one nucleoid, connected to a mini-cell, with no nucleoids, were occasionally observed. The temperature sensitivity and mini-cell formation of M45 was complemented by a 2-kb DraI-EcoRI fragment derived from the ATCC 31831 chromosomal DNA, which carried a dnaB homolog encoding a replicative DNA helicase. DNA sequence analysis revealed that M45 carried a missense mutation in the dnaB gene, which caused a substitution of Thr364 to Ile. Microscopic observation after 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining revealed that the DNA content of single cells was decreased by culturing at the restrictive temperature, suggesting that the mutation affects chromosomal replication. These results suggest that the C. glutamicum dnaB mutant performs an asymmetric cell division even after DNA replication is inhibited, which results in the production of mini-cells.

Double mutation of cell wall proteins CspB and PBP1a increases secretion of the antibody Fab fragment from Corynebacterium glutamicum.

BACKGROUND: Among other advantages, recombinant antibody-binding fragments (Fabs) hold great clinical and commercial potential, owing to their efficient tissue penetration compared to that of full-length IgGs. Although production of recombinant Fab using microbial expression systems has been reported, yields of active Fab have not been satisfactory. We recently developed the Corynebacterium glutamicum protein expression system (CORYNEX®) and demonstrated improved yield and purity for some applications, although the system has not been applied to Fab production. RESULTS: The Fab fragment of human anti-HER2 was successfully secreted by the CORYNEX® system using the conventional C. glutamicum strain YDK010, but the productivity was very low. To improve the secretion efficiency, we investigated the effects of deleting cell wall-related genes. Fab secretion was increased 5.2 times by deletion of pbp1a, encoding one of the penicillin-binding proteins (PBP1a), mediating cell wall peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis. However, this Δpbp1a mutation did not improve Fab secretion in the wild-type ATCC13869 strain. Because YDK010 carries a mutation in the cspB gene encoding a surface (S)-layer protein, we evaluated the effect of ΔcspB mutation on Fab secretion from ATCC13869. The Δpbp1a mutation showed a positive effect on Fab secretion only in combination with the ΔcspB mutation. The ΔcspBΔpbp1a double mutant showed much greater sensitivity to lysozyme than either single mutant or the wild-type strain, suggesting that these mutations reduced cell wall resistance to protein secretion. CONCLUSION: There are at least two crucial permeability barriers to Fab secretion in the cell surface structure of C. glutamicum, the PG layer, and the S-layer. The ΔcspBΔpbp1a double mutant allows efficient Fab production using the CORYNEX® system.

Isolation of oleaginous yeast (Rhodosporidium toruloides) mutants tolerant of sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate.

Rhodosporidium toruloides is a lipid-producing yeast, the growth of which is severely suppressed when hydrolysates of lignocellulosic biomass are used as carbon source. This is probably due to the toxic substances, such as organic acids, furans, and phenolic compounds produced during the preparation of the hydrolysates. In order to solve this problem, R. toruloides cultures were subjected to atmospheric room-temperature plasma mutagenesis, resulting in the isolation of mutants showing tolerance to sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate (SBH). Three mutant strains, M11, M13, and M18, were found to grow with producing lipids with SBH as carbon source. M11 in particular appeared to accumulate higher levels (up to 60% of dry cell weight) of intracellular lipids. Further, all three mutant strains showed tolerance of vanillin, furfural, and acetic acid, with different spectra, suggesting that different genetic determinants are involved in SBH tolerance.

A secondary structure in the 5' untranslated region of adhE mRNA required for RNase G-dependent regulation.

Escherichia coli RNase G is involved in the degradation of several mRNAs, including adhE and eno, which encode alcohol dehydrogenase and enolase respectively. Previous research indicates that the 5' untranslated region (5'-UTR) of adhE mRNA gives RNase G-dependency to lacZ mRNA when tagged at the 5'-end, but it has not been elucidated yet how RNase G recognizes adhE mRNA. Primer extension analysis revealed that RNase G cleaved a phosphodiester bond between -19A and -18C in the 5'-UTR (the A of the start codon was defined as +1). Site-directed mutagenesis indicated that RNase G did not recognize the nucleotides at -19 and -18. Random deletion analysis indicated that the sequence from -145 to -125 was required for RNase G-dependent degradation. Secondary structure prediction and further site-directed deletion suggested that the stem-loop structure, with a bubble in the stem, is required for RNaseG-dependent degradation of adhE mRNA.

L-Glutamate secretion by the N-terminal domain of the Corynebacterium glutamicum NCgl1221 mechanosensitive channel.

The Corynebacterium glutamicum NCgl1221 mechanosensitive channel mediates L-glutamate secretion by sensing changes in membrane tension caused by treatments such as biotin limitation and penicillin. The NCgl1221 protein has an N-terminal domain (1-286 a.a.) homologous to the Escherichia coli MscS and a long C-terminal domain (287-533 a.a.) of unknown function. In order to investigate the role of the C-terminal domain in L-glutamate secretion, we constructed a series of C-terminally truncated mutants of NCgl1221. We found that the N-terminal domain, homologous to E. coli MscS, retained the ability to cause L-glutamate secretion in response to the treatment. Electrophysiological analysis confirmed that the N-terminal domain mediated L-glutamate secretion. 3D homology modeling has suggested that the N-terminal domain of NCgl1221 has an extra loop structure (221-232 a.a.) that is not found in most other MscS proteins. The mutant NCgl1221, deleted for this loop structure, lost the ability to secrete L-glutamate. In addition, we found that mutant NCgl1221 lacking the C-terminal extracytoplasmic domain (420-533 a.a.) produced L-glutamate without any inducing treatment. These results suggest that the N-terminal domain is necessary and sufficient for the excretion of L-glutamate in response to inducing treatment, and that the C-terminal extracytoplasmic domain has a negative regulatory role in L-glutamate production.

3' Untranslated region-dependent degradation of the aceA mRNA, encoding the glyoxylate cycle enzyme isocitrate lyase, by RNase E/G in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

We previously reported that the Corynebacterium glutamicum RNase E/G encoded by the rneG gene (NCgl2281) is required for the 5' maturation of 5S rRNA. In the search for the intracellular target RNAs of RNase E/G other than the 5S rRNA precursor, we detected that the amount of isocitrate lyase, an enzyme of the glyoxylate cycle, increased in rneG knockout mutant cells grown on sodium acetate as the sole carbon source. Rifampin chase experiments showed that the half-life of the aceA mRNA was about 4 times longer in the rneG knockout mutant than in the wild type. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis also confirmed that the level of aceA mRNA was approximately 3-fold higher in the rneG knockout mutant strain than in the wild type. Such differences were not observed in other mRNAs encoding enzymes involved in acetate metabolism. Analysis by 3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends suggested that RNase E/G cleaves the aceA mRNA at a single-stranded AU-rich region in the 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR). The lacZ fusion assay showed that the 3'-UTR rendered lacZ mRNA RNase E/G dependent. These findings indicate that RNase E/G is a novel regulator of the glyoxylate cycle in C. glutamicum.

Corynebacterium glutamicum RNase E/G-type endoribonuclease encoded by NCgl2281 is involved in the 5' maturation of 5S rRNA.

Corynebacterium glutamicum has one RNase E/G ortholog and one RNase J ortholog but no RNase Y. We previously reported that the C. glutamicum NCgl2281 gene encoding the RNase E/G ortholog complemented the rng::cat mutation in Escherichia coli but not the rne-1 mutation. In this study, we constructed an NCgl2281 knockout mutant and found that the mutant cells accumulated 5S rRNA precursor molecules. The processing of 16S and 23S rRNA, tRNA, and tmRNA was normal. Primer extension analysis revealed that the RNase E/G ortholog cleaved at the -1 site of the 5' end of 5S rRNA. However, 3' maturation was essentially unaffected. These findings showed that C. glutamicum NCgl2281 endoribonuclease is involved in the 5' maturation of 5S rRNA. This is the first report showing the physiological function of the RNase E/G ortholog in bacteria having one RNase E/G and one RNase J but no RNase Y.

Requirement of the LtsA Protein for Formation of the Mycolic Acid-Containing Layer on the Cell Surface of Corynebacterium glutamicum.

The ltsA gene of Corynebacterium glutamicum encodes a purF-type glutamine-dependent amidotransferase, and mutations in this gene result in increased susceptibility to lysozyme. Recently, it was shown that the LtsA protein catalyzes the amidation of diaminopimelate residues in the lipid intermediates of peptidoglycan biosynthesis. In this study, intracellular localization of wild-type and mutant LtsA proteins fused with green fluorescent protein (GFP) was investigated. The GFP-fused wild-type LtsA protein showed a peripheral localization pattern characteristic of membrane-associated proteins. The GFP-fusions with a mutation in the N-terminal domain of LtsA, which is necessary for the glutamine amido transfer reaction, exhibited a similar localization to the wild type, whereas those with a mutation or a truncation in the C-terminal domain, which is not conserved among the purF-type glutamine-dependent amidotransferases, did not. These results suggest that the C-terminal domain is required for peripheral localization. Differential staining of cell wall structures with fluorescent dyes revealed that formation of the mycolic acid-containing layer at the cell division planes was affected in the ltsA mutant cells. This was also confirmed by observation that bulge formation was induced at the cell division planes in the ltsA mutant cells upon lysozyme treatment. These results suggest that the LtsA protein function is required for the formation of a mycolic acid-containing layer at the cell division planes and that this impairment results in increased susceptibility to lysozyme.

Structure of the heme biosynthetic Pseudomonas aeruginosa porphobilinogen synthase in complex with the antibiotic alaremycin.

The recently discovered antibacterial compound alaremycin, produced by Streptomyces sp. A012304, structurally closely resembles 5-aminolevulinic acid, the substrate of porphobilinogen synthase. During the initial steps of heme biosynthesis, two molecules of 5-aminolevulinic acid are asymmetrically condensed to porphobilinogen. Alaremycin was found to efficiently inhibit the growth of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Using the newly created heme-permeable strain Escherichia coli CSA1, we are able to uncouple heme biosynthesis from bacterial growth and demonstrate that alaremycin targets the heme biosynthetic pathway. Further studies focused on the activity of alaremycin against the opportunistic pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The MIC of alaremycin was determined to be 12 mM. Alaremycin was identified as a direct inhibitor of recombinant purified P. aeruginosa porphobilinogen synthase and had a K(i) of 1.33 mM. To understand the molecular basis of alaremycin's antibiotic activity at the atomic level, the P. aeruginosa porphobilinogen synthase was cocrystallized with the alaremycin. At 1.75-A resolution, the crystal structure reveals that the antibiotic efficiently blocks the active site of porphobilinogen synthase. The antibiotic binds as a reduced derivative of 5-acetamido-4-oxo-5-hexenoic acid. The corresponding methyl group is, however, not coordinated by any amino acid residues of the active site, excluding its functional relevance for alaremycin inhibition. Alaremycin is covalently bound by the catalytically important active-site lysine residue 260 and is tightly coordinated by several active-site amino acids. Our data provide a solid structural basis to further improve the activity of alaremycin for rational drug design. Potential approaches are discussed.

Requirement of de novo synthesis of the OdhI protein in penicillin-induced glutamate production by Corynebacterium glutamicum.

We found that penicillin-induced glutamate production by Corynebacterium glutamicum is inhibited when a de novo protein synthesis inhibitor, chloramphenicol, is added simultaneously with penicillin. When chloramphenicol was added 4 h after penicillin addition, glutamate production was essentially unaffected. (3)H-Leucine incorporation experiments revealed that protein synthesis continued for 1 h after penicillin addition and then gradually decreased. These results suggest that de novo protein synthesis within 4 h of penicillin treatment is required for the induction of glutamate production. To identify the protein(s) necessary for penicillin-induced glutamate production, proteome analysis of penicillin-treated C. glutamicum cells was performed with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Of more than 500 proteins detected, the amount of 13 proteins, including OdhI (an inhibitory protein for 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex), significantly increased upon penicillin treatment. Artificial overexpression of the odhI gene resulted in the decreased specific activity of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex and increased glutamate production without any triggers. These results suggest that the de novo synthesis of OdhI is the necessary factor for penicillin-induced glutamate overproduction by C. glutamicum. Moreover, continuous glutamate production was achieved by overexpression of odhI without any triggers. Thus, the odhI-overexpressing strain of C. glutamicum can be useful for efficient glutamate production.

A role of the cspA gene encoding a mycolyltransferase in the growth under alkaline conditions of Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Corynebacterium glutamicum is widely used in the industrial production of amino acids. Producer strains are generated by classical random mutagenesis, and therefore have detrimental characteristics caused by unnecessary mutations. Increased alkali sensitivity is one of those undesired characteristics. We found that one of the laboratory strains, AJ12036DeltacspADeltacspB, showed decreased growth under alkaline conditions. To clarify which mutation is responsible for alkali sensitivity, we constructed mutant strains carrying the DeltacspA and/or DeltacspB mutations from wild-type strain ATCC13869. We found that disruption of cspA encoding a mycolyltransferase alone caused increased alkali sensitivity. The DeltacspA mutant also showed increased susceptibility to ethambutol, penicillin, and rifampicin. Disruption of cspB had no effect on alkali sensitivity or drug sensitivity. These results indicate that the mycolate layer is important for alkali sensitivity as well as drug susceptibility in this bacterium.

Structural and functional characterization of the LldR from Corynebacterium glutamicum: a transcriptional repressor involved in L-lactate and sugar utilization.

LldR (CGL2915) from Corynebacterium glutamicum is a transcription factor belonging to the GntR family, which is typically involved in the regulation of oxidized substrates associated with amino acid metabolism. In the present study, the crystal structure of LldR was determined at 2.05-A resolution. The structure consists of N- and C-domains similar to those of FadR, but with distinct domain orientations. LldR and FadR dimers achieve similar structures by domain swapping, which was first observed in dimeric assembly of transcription factors. A structural feature of Zn(2+) binding in the regulatory domain was also observed, as a difference from the FadR subfamily. DNA microarray and DNase I footprint analyses suggested that LldR acts as a repressor regulating cgl2917-lldD and cgl1934-fruK-ptsF operons, which are indispensable for l-lactate and fructose/sucrose utilization, respectively. Furthermore, the stoichiometries and affinities of LldR and DNAs were determined by isothermal titration calorimetry measurements. The transcriptional start site and repression of LldR on the cgl2917-lldD operon were analysed by primer extension assay. Mutation experiments showed that residues Lys4, Arg32, Arg42 and Gly63 are crucial for DNA binding. The location of the putative ligand binding cavity and the regulatory mechanism of LldR on its affinity for DNA were proposed.

Growth promotion in Corynebacterium glutamicum by overexpression of the NCgl2986 gene encoding a protein homologous to peptidoglycan amidases.

We previously reported the extracellular production of antibody fragment Fab by Corynebacterium glutamicum. In the course of searching for genes which improve the secretion efficiency of Fab, we coincidentally found that the final growth increased significantly when the NCgl2986 gene encoding an amidase-like protein was overexpressed. This effect was observed when cells were grown on the production medium MMTG, which contains high concentrations of glucose and neutralizing agent CaCO3, but not on MMTG without CaCO3 or Lennox medium. Not only turbidity but also dry cell weight was increased by NCgl2986 overexpression, although the growth rate was not affected. It was recently reported that the Mycobacterium tuberculosis homolog Rv3915 functions as an activator of MurA protein, which catalyzes the initial step of peptidoglycan synthesis. Growth promotion was also observed when the MurA protein was overproduced. His-tagged NCgl2986 protein was purified, but its peptidoglycan hydrolyzing activity could not be detected. These results suggest that NCgl2986 promotes cell growth by activating the peptidoglycan synthetic pathway.