Growth-phase-dependent alginate synthesis, activity of biosynthetic enzymes and transcription of alginate genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Alginate synthesis by the highly mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa 8821 M is growth-phase-dependent, and the alginate produced per unit of biomass reaches maximum values in the deceleration phase of growth. However, the degree of polymerization increases as batch growth proceeds, reaching maximum values at the stationary phase of growth. The activity of the four enzymes leading to GDP-mannuronic acid formation, phosphomannose isomerase, phosphomannomutase, GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase and GDP-mannose dehydrogenase peaked earlier at the late exponential phase. Growth-phase-dependent activity of alginate biosynthetic enzymes correlates with the level of transcription of the encoding alginate genes algA, algC and algD during growth, as indicated by Northern blot hybridization experiments. The pattern of coordinate transcriptional growth-phase regulation of these alginate structural genes concurs with the growth-dependent transcription of the regulatory gene algR1.