Homoserine Dehydrogenase Activity Research Articles

Enhancement of lysine biosynthesis confers high-temperature stress tolerance to Escherichia coli cells

Lysine, a nutritionally important amino acid, is involved in adaptation and tolerance to environmental stresses in various organisms. Previous studies reported that lysine accumulation occurs in response to stress and that lysine supplementation enhances stress tolerance; however, the effect of lysine biosynthesis enhancement on stress tolerance has yet to be elucidated. In this study, we confirmed that lysine supplementation to the culture medium increased intracellular lysine content and improved cell growth of Escherichia coli at high temperature (42.5 °C). Lysine-overproducing strains were then isolated from the lysine analogue S-adenosylmethionine-resistant mutants by conventional mutagenesis and exhibited higher tolerance to high-temperature stress than the wild-type strain. We identified novel amino acid substitutions Gly474Asp and Cys554Tyr on ThrA, a bifunctional aspartate kinase/homoserine dehydrogenase (AK/HSDH), in the lysine-overproducing mutants. Interestingly, the Gly474Asp and Cys554Tyr variants of ThrA induced lysine accumulation and conferred high-temperature stress tolerance to E. coli cells. Enzymatic analysis revealed that the Gly474Asp substitution in ThrA reduced HSDH activity, suggesting that the intracellular level of aspartate semialdehyde, which is a substrate for HSDH and an intermediate for lysine biosynthesis, is elevated by the loss of HSDH activity and converted to lysine in E. coli. The present study demonstrated that both lysine supplementation and lysine biosynthesis enhancement improved the high-temperature stress tolerance of E. coli cells. Our findings suggest that lysine-overproducing strains have the potential as stress-tolerant microorganisms and can be applied to robust host cells for microbial production of useful compounds.Key points• Lysine supplementation improved the growth of E. coli cells at high temperature.• The G474D and C554Y variant ThrA increased lysine productivity in E. coli cells.• The G474D substitution in ThrA reduced homoserine dehydrogenase activity.• E. coli cells that overproduce lysine exhibited high-temperature stress tolerance.

Candida albicans Hom6 is a homoserine dehydrogenase involved in protein synthesis and cell adhesion.

Candida albicans is a common fungal pathogen in humans. In healthy individuals, C. albicans represents a harmless commensal organism, but infections can be life threatening in immunocompromised patients. The complete genome sequence of C. albicans is extremely useful for identifying genes that may be potential drug targets and important for pathogenic virulence. However, there are still many uncharacterized genes in the Candida genome database. In this study, we investigated C. albicans Hom6, the functions of which remain undetermined experimentally. HOM6-deleted and HOM6-reintegrated mutant strains were constructed. The mutant strains were compared with wild-type in their growth in various media and enzyme activity. Effects of HOM6 deletion on translation were further investigated by cell susceptibility to hygromycin B or cycloheximide, as well as by polysome profiling, and cell adhesion to polystyrene was also determined. C. albicans Hom6 exhibits homoserine dehydrogenase activity and is involved in the biosynthesis of methionine and threonine. HOM6 deletion caused translational arrest in cells grown under amino acid starvation conditions. Additionally, Hom6 protein was found in both cytosolic and cell-wall fractions of cultured cells. Furthermore, HOM6 deletion reduced C. albicans cell adhesion to polystyrene, which is a common plastic used in many medical devices. Given that there is no Hom6 homologue in mammalian cells, our results provided an important foundation for future development of new antifungal drugs.

Threonine-insensitive Homoserine Dehydrogenase from Soybean: GENOMIC ORGANIZATION, KINETIC MECHANISM, AND IN VIVO ACTIVITY

Aspartate kinase (AK) and homoserine dehydrogenase (HSD) function as key regulatory enzymes at branch points in the aspartate amino acid pathway and are feedback-inhibited by threonine. In plants the biochemical features of AK and bifunctional AK-HSD enzymes have been characterized, but the molecular properties of the monofunctional HSD remain unexamined. To investigate the role of HSD, we have cloned the cDNA and gene encoding the monofunctional HSD (GmHSD) from soybean. Using heterologously expressed and purified GmHSD, initial velocity and product inhibition studies support an ordered bi bi kinetic mechanism in which nicotinamide cofactor binds first and leaves last in the reaction sequence. Threonine inhibition of GmHSD occurs at concentrations (K(i) = 160-240 mM) more than 1000-fold above physiological levels. This is in contrast to the two AK-HSD isoforms in soybean that are sensitive to threonine inhibition (K(i) approximately 150 microM). In addition, GmHSD is not inhibited by other aspartate-derived amino acids. The ratio of threonine-resistant to threonine-sensitive HSD activity in soybean tissues varies and likely reflects different demands for amino acid biosynthesis. This is the first cloning and detailed biochemical characterization of a monofunctional feedback-insensitive HSD from any plant. Threonine-resistant HSD offers a useful biotechnology tool for manipulating the aspartate amino acid pathway to increase threonine and methionine production in plants for improved nutritional content.

Regulation of aspartokinase, aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, dihydrodipicolinate synthase and dihydrodipicolinate reductase in Lactobacillus plantarum

The use of a lysine-overproducing strain of Lactobacillus plantarum in food or feed fermentations may lead to the production of lysine-rich products. The availability of functional genes and information on the regulation of lysine biosynthesis are required to develop a lysine-overproducing strain. The genome sequence of L. plantarum revealed putative lysine biosynthetic genes, some of which may produce isozymes. This study examined the functionality of the genes and the regulation of the first four enzymes of lysine biosynthesis, together with homoserine dehydrogenase, in L. plantarum. The genes were expressed in Escherichia coli, and the regulation of the enzymes was studied in cell extracts of both recombinant E. coli and L. plantarum. Among seven lysine biosynthetic genes studied (aspartokinase genes, thrA1 and thrA2; aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase genes, asd1 and asd2; dihydrodipicolinate synthase genes, dapA1 and dapA2; and the dihydrodipicolinate reductase gene, dapB) plus two homoserine dehydrogenase genes (hom1 and hom2), the products of six genes, i.e. thrA2, asd2, dapA1, dapB, hom1 and hom2, showed obvious enzyme activities in vitro. The product of one of the homoserine dehydrogenase genes, hom1, exhibited both homoserine dehydrogenase and aspartokinase activities. However, the aspartokinase activity was mainly due to ThrA2 and was inhibited by L-lysine and repressed by L-threonine, and the homoserine dehydrogenase activity was mainly due to Hom2 and was inhibited by L-threonine. The aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, dihydrodipicolinate synthase and dihydrodipicolinate reductase were not regulated by the end-products of the pathway.

Identification of Six Novel Allosteric Effectors of Arabidopsis thaliana Aspartate Kinase-Homoserine Dehydrogenase Isoforms: PHYSIOLOGICAL CONTEXT SETS THE SPECIFICITY

The Arabidopsis genome contains two genes predicted to code for bifunctional aspartate kinase-homoserine dehydrogenase enzymes (isoforms I and II). These two activities catalyze the first and the third steps toward the synthesis of the essential amino acids threonine, isoleucine, and methionine. We first characterized the kinetic and regulatory properties of the recombinant enzymes, showing that they mainly differ with respect to the inhibition of the homoserine dehydrogenase activity by threonine. A systematic search for other allosteric effectors allowed us to identify an additional inhibitor (leucine) and 5 activators (alanine, cysteine, isoleucine, serine, and valine) equally efficient on aspartate kinase I activity (4-fold activation). The six effectors of aspartate kinase I were all activators of aspartate kinase II activity (13-fold activation) and displayed a similar specificity for the enzyme. No synergy between different effectors could be observed. The activation, which resulted from a decrease in the Km values for the substrates, was detected using low substrates concentrations. Amino acid quantification revealed that alanine and threonine were much more abundant than the other effectors in Arabidopsis leaf chloroplasts. In vitro kinetics in the presence of physiological concentrations of the seven allosteric effectors confirmed that aspartate kinase I and II activities were highly sensitive to changes in alanine and threonine concentrations. Thus, physiological context rather than enzyme structure sets the specificity of the allosteric control. Stimulation by alanine may play the role of a feed forward activation of the aspartate-derived amino acid pathway in plant.

Isolation of enzymes involved in threonine biosynthesis from sorghum seeds

Cereal seeds are poor in essential amino acids, particularly lysine, tryptophan and threonine. The amino acids lysine and threonine are synthesized in the aspartate pathway. Although most of the enzymes of the aspartate pathway have been isolated and characterized in higher plant species, the metabolism of lysine and threonine is totally unknown in sorghum. We have isolated two enzymes, aspartate kinase (AK) and homoserine dehydrogenase (HSDH) from sorghum. Optimum assay conditions were established for the determination of AK and HSDH activities. The highest level of activity was observed in immature seeds. AK was shown to be inhibited by threonine and lysine indicating the existence of at least two isoenzymes, one sensitive to threonine inhibition and the other sensitive to lysine inhibition with the latter being predominant in sorghum seeds. HSDH was shown to be inhibited by threonine indicating the existence of a threonine-sensitive HSDH, however, most of the activity was not inhibited by threonine, suggesting the existence of a second predominant isoenzyme of HSDH resistant to threonine inhibition.

Mechanism of Control of Arabidopsis thaliana Aspartate Kinase-Homoserine Dehydrogenase by Threonine

The regulatory domain of the bifunctional threonine-sensitive aspartate kinase homoserine dehydrogenase contains two homologous subdomains defined by a common loop-alpha helix-loop-beta strand-loop-beta strand motif. This motif is homologous with that found in the two subdomains of the biosynthetic threonine-deaminase regulatory domain. Comparisons of the primary and secondary structures of the two enzymes allowed us to predict the location and identity of the amino acid residues potentially involved in two threonine-binding sites of Arabidopsis thaliana aspartate kinase-homoserine dehydrogenase. These amino acids were then mutated and activity measurements were carried out to test this hypothesis. Steady-state kinetic experiments on the wild-type and mutant enzymes demonstrated that each regulatory domain of the monomers of aspartate kinase-homoserine dehydrogenase possesses two nonequivalent threonine-binding sites constituted in part by Gln(443) and Gln(524). Our results also demonstrated that threonine interaction with Gln(443) leads to inhibition of aspartate kinase activity and facilitates the binding of a second threonine on Gln(524). Interaction of this second threonine with Gln(524) leads to inhibition of homoserine dehydrogenase activity.

Transcriptional and biochemical regulation of a novel Arabidopsis thaliana bifunctional aspartate kinase-homoserine dehydrogenase gene isolated by functional complementation of a yeast hom6 mutant.

An aspartate kinase-homoserine dehydrogenase (AK-HSDH) cDNA of Arabidopsis thaliana has been cloned by functional complementation of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain mutated in its homoserine dehydrogenase (HSDH) gene (hom6). Two of the three isolated clones were also able to complement a mutant yeast aspartate kinase (AK) gene (hom3). Sequence analysis showed that the identified gene (akthr2), located on chromosome 4, is different from the previously cloned A. thaliana AK-HSDH gene (akthr1), and corresponds to a novel bifunctional AK-HSDH gene. Expression of the isolated akthr2 cDNA in a HSDH-less hom6 yeast mutant conferred threonine and methionine prototrophy to the cells. Cell-free extracts contained a threonine-sensitive HSDH activity with feedback properties of higher plant type. Correspondingly, cDNA expression in an AK-deficient hom3 yeast mutant resulted in threonine and methionine prototrophy and a threonine-sensitive AK activity was observed in cell-free extracts. These results confirm that akthr2 encodes a threonine-sensitive bifunctional enzyme. Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants (containing a construct with the promoter region of akthr2 in front of the gus reporter gene) were generated to compare the expression pattern of the akthr2 gene with the pattern of akthr1 earlier described in tobacco. The two genes are simultaneously expressed in meristematic cells, leaves and stamens. The main differences between the two genes concern the time-restricted or absent expression of the akthr2 gene in the stem, the gynoecium and during seed formation, while akthr1 is less expressed in roots.

Identification of a monofunctional aspartate kinase gene of Arabidopsis thaliana with spatially and temporally regulated expression.

We screened a gene trap library of Arabidopsis thaliana and isolated a line in which a gene encoding a homologue of monofunctional aspartate kinase was trapped by the reporter gene. Aspartate kinase (AK) is a key enzyme in the biosynthsis of aspartate family amino acids such as lysine, threonine, isoleucine, and methionine. In plants, two types of AK are known: one is AK which is sensitive to feedback inhibition by threonine and carries both AK and homoserine dehydrogenase (HSD) activities. The other one is monofunctional, sensitive to lysine and synergistically S-adenosylmethionine, and has only AK activity. We concluded that the trapped gene encoded a monofunctional aspartate kinase and designated as AK-lys3, because it lacked the HSD domain and had an amino acid sequence highly similar to those of the monofunctional aspartate kinases ofA. thaliana. AK-lys3 was highly expressed in xylem of leaves and hypocotyls and stele of roots. Significant expression of this gene was also observed in trichomes after bolting. Slight expression of AK-lys3 was detected in vascular bundles and mesophyll cells of cauline leaves, inflorescence stems, sepals, petals, and stigmas. These results indicated that this aspartate kinase gene was not expressed uniformly but in a spatially specific manner.

Effects of expressing E. coli threonine synthase in tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) suspension culture cells on free amino acid levels, aspartate pathway enzyme activities and uptake of aspartate into the cells

Summary The amino acids threonine and methionine are derived from aspartate in a multibranched biosynthetic pathway. In higher plants, the branchpoint enzymes, threonine synthase (TS; EC 4.2.99.2) and cystathionine γ-synthase (CγS; EC 4.2.99.9), which lead to threonine/isoleucine and methionine synthesis, respectively, compete against each other for pathway intermediates. In order to better understand the regulation and interplay between these competing pathways, the feedback-insensitive E. coli TS was constitutively expressed in tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) suspension cultured cells via Agrobacterium -mediated transformation. Expression of E. coli TS in tobacco cells resulted in a 7-fold increase in total TS activity and a 5.7-fold increase in free threonine levels. CγS activity increased 3.5 fold, apparendy to compensate for the heightened competition for the common pathway intermediate homoserine phosphate. Homoserine dehydrogenase and threonine-sensitive aspartate kinase activities were increased by almost 2 fold. Free aspartate was decreased by 55 % in the transformed cells, while free lysine and isoleucine levels were not significantly changed, indicating that threonine does not regulate its own synthesis by inhibiting an enzyme early in the pathway. Transformed cells had a markedly reduced ability to take up 14 [C] aspartate from the medium, suggesting that threonine may regulate its synthesis in vivo in part by limiting aspartate availability after Met, Lys, and lie pools are filled.

Engineering the homoserine dehydrogenase and threonine dehydratase control points to analyse flux towards L -isoleucine in Corynebacterium glutamicum

The synthesis of L-isoleucine by Corynebacterium glutamicum involves 11 reaction steps, with at least 5 of them regulated in activity or expression. Using gene replacement we constructed a vector-free C. glutamicum strain having feedback-resistant aspartate kinase and feedback-resistant homoserine dehydrogenase activity. Isogenic strains carrying in addition one or several copies of feedback-resistant threonine dehydratase were made and their product accumulations compared. With strain SM1, with high threonine dehydratase activity, accumulation of 50 mM L-isoleucine was achieved, whereas with the parent strain only 4 mM L-isoleucine was obtained. Applying a closed-loop control fed-batch strategy to strain SM1 a final titre of 138 mM L-isoleucine was achieved with an integral molar yield of 0.11 mol/mol, and a maximal specific productivity of 0.28 mmol (g h)-1. This shows that high L-isoleucine yields can be obtained in the presence of one copy of feedback-resistant homoserine dehydrogenase by applying the appropriate fermentation strategy. In addition, the specific profiles of 2-oxoglutarate and pyruvate accumulation during fermentation revealed a major transition of the metabolism of C. glutamicum during the fermentation process.

5451516 Bifunctional protein from carrots (daucus carota) with aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities : Matthews Benjamin F; Weisemann Jane M Laurel, MD, United States

5451516 Bifunctional protein from carrots (daucus carota) with aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities : Matthews Benjamin F; Weisemann Jane M Laurel, MD, United States

Effects of Homoserine Dehydrogenase Deficiency on Production of Cytidine by Mutants of Bacillus subtilis.

A homoserine-requiring mutant, Bacillus subtilis strain No. 615, was isolated from a cytidine-producing mutant strain No. 515. The homoserine dehydrogenase activity of strain No. 615 was reduced to less than 1/50 of that of No. 515. Strain No. 615 accumulated 23.5 mg/ml cytidine in a medium containing 16% glucose, and strain No. 515 accumulated 18.8 mg/ml cytidine under the same conditions. The effects of glucose concentration on cytidine production were examined, and strain No. 615 accumulated 30.2 mg/ml cytidine in a medium containing 20% glucose.

Use of Feedback-Resistant Threonine Dehydratases of Corynebacterium glutamicum To Increase Carbon Flux towards l-Isoleucine

The biosynthesis of l-isoleucine proceeds via a highly regulated reaction sequence connected with l-lysine and l-threonine synthesis. Using defined genetic Corynebacterium glutamicum strains characterized by different fluxes through the homoserine dehydrogenase reaction, we analyzed the influence of four different ilvA alleles (encoding threonine dehydratase) in vectors with two different copy numbers on the total flux towards l-isoleucine. For this purpose, 18 different strains were constructed and analyzed. The result was that unlike ilvA in vectors with low copy numbers, ilvA in high-copy-number vectors increased the final l-isoleucine yield by about 20%. An additional 40% increase in l-isoleucine yield was obtained by the use of ilvA alleles encoding feedback-resistant threonine dehydratases. The strain with the highest yield was characterized by three hom(Fbr) copies encoding feedback-resistant homoserine dehydrogenase and ilvA(Fbr) encoding feedback-resistant threonine dehydratase on a multicopy plasmid. It accumulated 96 mM l-isoleucine, without any l-threonine as a by-product. The highest specific productivity was 0.052 g of l-isoleucine per g of biomass per h. This comparative flux analysis of isogenic strains showed that high levels of l-isoleucine formation from glucose can be achieved by the appropriate balance of homoserine dehydrogenase and threonine dehydratase activities in a strain background with feedback-resistant aspartate kinase. However, still-unknown limitations are present within the entire reaction sequence.

Effect of inducible thrB expression on amino acid production in Corynebacterium lactofermentum ATCC 21799.

Amplification of the operon homdr-thrB encoding a feedback-insensitive homoserine dehydrogenase and a wild-type homoserine kinase in a Corynebacterium lactofermentum lysine-producing strain resulted in both homoserine and threonine accumulation, with some residual lysine production. A plasmid enabling separate transcriptional control of each gene was constructed to determine the effect of various enzyme activity ratios on metabolite accumulation. By increasing the activity of homoserine kinase relative to homoserine dehydrogenase activity, homoserine accumulation in the medium was essentially eliminated and the final threonine titer was increased by about 120%. Furthermore, a fortuitous result of the cloning strategy was an unexplained increase in homoserine dehydrogenase activity. This resulted in a further decrease in lysine production along with a concomitant increase in threonine accumulation.

Isolation, organization and expression of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa threonine genes.

Three genes from Pseudomonas aeruginosa involved in threonine biosynthesis, hom, thrB and thrC, encoding homoserine dehydrogenase (HDH), homoserine kinase (HK) and threonine synthase (TS), respectively, have been cloned and sequenced. The hom and thrc genes lie at the thr locus of the P. aeruginosa chromosome map (31 min) and are likely to be organized in a bicistronic operon. The encoded proteins are quite similar to the Hom and TS proteins from other bacterial species. The thrB gene was located by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis experiments at 10 min on the chromosome map. The product of this gene does not share any similarity with other known ThrB proteins. No phenotype could be detected when the chromosomal thrB gene was inactivated by an insertion. Therefore the existence of isozymes for this activity is postulated. HDH activity was feedback inhibited by threonine; the expression of all three genes was constitutive. The overall organization of these three genes appears to differ from that in other bacterial species.

Isolation of auxotrophic mutants from acetobacter methanolicus MB 58

AbstractThe lysine content of the biomass of the acidophilic facultatively methylotrophic bacterium Acetobacter methanolicus MB 58 was increased by genetic manipulations.A homoserine auxotroph, MB 58.196, and a threonine auxotroph, MB 58.195, were obtained from Acetobacter methanolicus MB 58 by N‐methyl‐N′‐nitro‐N‐nitrosoguanidine treatment.Investigations of enzyme activities revealed that the homoserine auxotroph lacks homoserine dehydrogenase activity, and the threonine auxotroph lacks homoserine kinase activity.Concerning the lysine‐producing ability, only the homoserine auxotrophic mutant accumulates lysine in the intracellular pool. The intracellular lysine content of this mutant was increased 40‐fold.An excretion of amino acids into the medium was not detected. A homoserine resistant mutant, MB 58.196.10, isolated from MB 58.196 by UV‐irradiation, was able to excrete lysine. About 95% of free lysine were found in the culture medium. Altogether, the free lysine concentration was increased 800‐fold in comparison to the wild‐type strain.By these genetic manipulations the total lysine concentration of MB 58.196 was increased to 2.7% and of MB 58.196.10 to 56% in comparison to the wild‐type strain.

Aspartate kinase regulation in maize: Evidence for co-purification of threonine-sensitive aspartate kinase and homoserine dehydrogenase

The threonine-sensitive and resistant forms of homoserine dehydrogenase activities were assayed in all fractions obtained during the purification of three aspartate kinase isoenzymes (threonine, lysine and lysine plus S-adenosylmethionine-sensitive) from maize cultures. The homoserine dehydrogenase isoenzyme resistant to inhibition by threonine, has a molecular weight of 70 000 and could be easily separated from the three aspartate kinase isoenzymes by ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration; similarly the two lysine-sensitive forms of aspartate kinase could be separated from both forms of homoserine dehydrogenase. The homoserine dehydrogenase sensitive to threonine inhibition has a molecular weight of 180 000 and co-purified with the threonine-sensitive aspartate kinase isoenzyme. The hypothesis of the presence of a bifunctional protein containing activities of aspartate kinase-homoserine dehydrogenase is discussed.

Bifunctional Protein in Carrot Contains Both Aspartokinase and Homoserine Dehydrogenase Activities

We have purified homoserine dehydrogenase to homogeneity and subjected polypeptide fragments derived from digests of the protein to amino acid sequencing. The amino acid sequence of homoserine dehydrogenase from carrot (Daucus carota) indicates that in carrot both aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities reside on the same protein. Additional evidence that aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase reside on a bifunctional protein is provided by coelution of activities during purification steps and by enzyme-specific gel staining techniques. Highly purified fractions containing aspartokinase activity were stained for aspartokinase activity, homoserine dehydrogenase activity, and protein. These gels confirmed that aspartokinase activity and homoserine dehydrogenase activity were present on the same protein. This arrangement of aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities residing on the same protein is also found in Escherichia coli, which has two bifunctional enzymes, aspartokinase I-homoserine dehydrogenase I and aspartokinase II-homoserine dehydrogenase II. The amino acid sequence of the major form of homoserine dehydrogenase from carrot cell suspension cultures most closely resembles that of the E. coli ThrA gene product aspartokinase I-homoserine dehydrogenase I.

Effect of dimethyl sulfoxide on lysine production by a mutant ofBacillus subtilis with low homoserine dehydrogenase activity

Some Bacillus subtilis mutants with different levels of homoserine dehydrogenase were described. Strains that do not accumulate methionine have a high homoserine dehydrogenase activity. Low activity was detected in mutants where cell growth was completely inhibited by 0.7 mmol/L methionine. A low concentration of dimethyl sulfoxide had a stimulatory effect on lysine production by the methionine-sensitive mutant of Bacillus subtilis.