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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2000, p. 277-283, Vol. 66, No. 1
0099-2240/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Carbon Catabolite Repression in Lactobacillus pentosus: Analysis of the ccpA Region

Kerstin Mahr, Wolfgang Hillen, and Fritz Titgemeyer*

Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany

Received 16 August 1999/Accepted 26 October 1999

The catabolite control protein CcpA is a central regulator in low-G+C-content gram-positive bacteria. It confers carbon catabolite repression to numerous genes required for carbon utilization. It also operates as a transcriptional activator of genes involved in diverse phenomena, such as glycolysis and ammonium fixation. We have cloned the ccpA region of Lactobacillus pentosus. ccpA encodes a protein of 336 amino acids exhibiting similarity to CcpA proteins of other bacteria and to proteins of the LacI/GalR family of transcriptional regulators. Upstream of ccpA was found an open reading frame with similarity to the pepQ gene, encoding a prolidase. Primer extension experiments revealed two start sites of transcription for ccpA. In wild-type cells grown on glucose, mRNA synthesis occurred only from the promoter proximal to ccpA. In a ccpA mutant strain, both promoters were used, with increased transcription from the distant promoter, which overlaps a presumptive CcpA binding site called cre (for catabolite responsive element). This suggests that expression of ccpA is autoregulated. Determination of the expression levels of CcpA in cells grown on repressing and nonrepressing carbon sources revealed that the amounts of CcpA produced did not change significantly, leading to the conclusion that the arrangement of two promoters may ensure constant expression of ccpA under various environmental conditions. A comparison of the genetic structures of ccpA regions revealed that lactic acid bacteria possess the gene order pepQ-ccpA-variable while the genetic structure in bacilli and Staphylococcus xylosus is aroA-ccpA-variable-acuC.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstrasse 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany. Phone: 49-(0)9131-8528095. Fax: 49-(0)9131-8528082. E-mail: ftitgem{at}biologie.uni-erlangen.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2000, p. 277-283, Vol. 66, No. 1
0099-2240/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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