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This study investigated features of the acid tolerance response (ATR) in Lactobacillus casei ATCC 334. To optimize ATR induction, cells were acid adapted for 10 or 20 min at different pH values (range, 3.0 to 5.0) and then acid challenged at pH 2.0. Adaptation over a broad range of pHs improved acid tolerance, but the highest survival was noted in cells acid adapted for 10 or 20 min at pH 4.5. Analysis of cytoplasmic membrane fatty acids (CMFAs) in acid-adapted cells showed that they had significantly (P < 0.05) higher total percentages of saturated and cyclopropane fatty acids than did control cells. Specifically, large increases in the percentages of C(14:0), C(16:1n(9)), C(16:0), and C(19:0(11c)) were noted in the CMFAs of acid-adapted and acid-adapted, acid-challenged cells, while C(18:1n(9)) and C(18:1n(11)) showed the greatest decrease. Comparison of the transcriptome from control cells (grown at pH 6.0) against that from cells acid adapted for 20 min at pH 4.5 indicated that acid adaption invoked a stringent-type response that was accompanied by other functions which likely helped these cells resist acid damage, including malolactic fermentation and intracellular accumulation of His. Validation of microarray data was provided by experiments that showed that L. casei survival at pH 2.5 was improved at least 100-fold by chemical induction of the stringent response or by the addition of 30 mM malate or 30 mM histidine to the acid challenge medium. To our knowledge, this is the first report that intracellular histidine accumulation may be involved in bacterial acid resistance.

Fruiting body formation (sporulation) is a distinctive, irreversible differentiation process in the life cycle of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum. The most important requirement for sporulation of Physarum is a period of starvation, and normally sporulation proceeds in the light. It is shown here that by omitting the liquid sporulation medium and elevating the temperature from 21 to 25 degrees C, sporulation can occur routinely in the dark. It is further shown that this autocrine signaling in the dark requires calcium ions and malate. A putative sporulation control factor was detected in conditioned media derived from plasmodia starved in the dark, which was then identified as polymalate. As an additional role for this previously detected polyanion, specific for the plasmodial state of Physarum, it is suggested that the secreted compound serves as a source for both malate and calcium ions and thus promotes sporulation without light signaling.

Calvin cycle carbon dioxide fixation genes encoded on DNA fragments from two nonphotosynthetic, chemolithoautotrophic bacteria, Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Xanthobacter flavus, were found to complement and support photosynthetic growth of a ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RubisCO) deletion mutant of the purple nonsulfur bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The regulation of RubisCO expression was analyzed in the complemented R. sphaeroides RubisCO deletion mutant. Distinct differences in the regulation of RubisCO synthesis were revealed when the complemented R. sphaeroides strains were cultured under photolithoautotrophic and photoheterotrophic growth conditions, e.g., a reversal in the normal pattern of RubisCO gene expression. These studies suggest that sequences and molecular signals which regulate the expression of diverse RubisCO genes may be probed by using the R. sphaeroides complementation system.

We have demonstrated that the transport of succinate into the cells of Rhizobium japonicum strains USDA 110 and USDA 217 is severely inhibited by cyanide, azide, and 2,4-dinitrophenol, but not by arsenate. These results suggest an active mechanism of transport that is dependent on an energized membrane, but does not directly utilize ATP. The apparent Km for succinate was 3.8 microM for strain USDA 110 and 1.8 microM for strain USDA 217; maximal transport velocities were 1.5 and 3.3 nmol of succinate per min per mg of protein, respectively. The expression of the succinate uptake activity was inducible rather than constitutive, with succinate and structurally related compounds being the most effective inducers. The mechanism showed some specificity for succinate and similar organic acids; fumarate and L-malate were classical competitive inhibitors of the system. In general, the best competing compounds were also the best carbon substrates for induction of succinate uptake activity. EDTA inhibited the transport of succinate, implying a role for divalent cations in the system. When various divalent cations were used to reconstitute EDTA-inhibited activity, Ca2+ was most effective, followed by Mg2+, which restored activity at about half the efficiency of Ca2+. Growth media that were supplemented with increased Ca2+ concentration supported more rapid growth with succinate as the carbon substrate, and cells from such media showed higher specific activities of succinate transport.

L-Malate repressed sporulation in the wild-type strain of Bacillus subtilis. When 75 mM L-malate was added to the growth medium at the time of inoculation, the appearance of heat-resistant spores was delayed 6 to 8 h. The synthesis of extracellular serine protease, alkaline phosphatase, glucose dehydrogenase, and dipicolinic acid was similarly delayed. Sporulation was not repressed when malate was added to the culture at t4 or later. A mutant was selected for ability to sporulate in the presence of malate. This strain could also sporulate in the presence of glucose. The malate-resistant mutant grew poorly with malate as sole carbon source, although it possessed an intact citric acid cycle, and it showed increased levels of malic enzyme. This indicates a defect in the metabolism of malate in the mutant. A mutant lacking malate dehydrogenase activity was also able to sporulate in the presence of malate. A model for the regulation of sporulation by malate is presented and discussed. Citric acid cycle intermediates other than malate did not affect sporulation. In contrast to previous results, sporulation of certain citric acid cycle mutants could be greatly increased or completely restored by the addition of intermediates after the enzymatic block. The results indicate that the failure of citric acid cycle mutants to sporulate can be adequately explained by lack of energy and lack of glutamate.

Bacillus subtilis cells grown in yeast extract medium accumulated 3-fluoro-l-erythro-[1,2-(14)C(2)]malate more than 30-fold from the surrounding medium. No metabolic products derived from 3-fluoro-l-erythro-malate could be detected in these cells. l-Malate competitively inhibited transport of 3-fluoro-l-erythro-malate. This malate analogue was itself a competitive inhibitor of l-malate uptake. Cells that had been grown in yeast extract supplemented with 5 mM l-malate showed a 10-fold increased affinity towards 3-fluoro-l-erythro-malate relative to cells grown in yeast extract medium with no added malate. Our results suggest that two transport systems for l-malate can be induced in B. subtilis. The first of these systems seems to effect uptake of C(4)-dicarboxylates (l-malate, succinate, and fumarate) in yeast extract medium. The second transport system (or possibly a modification of the first transport system) seems to be induced by addition of l-malate to this medium and is also functioning in malate minimal medium.

Multiple glucose transport systems were distinguished in Rhizobium leguminosarum. We found nonlinear Lineweaver-Burk plots for the uptake of glucose, 2-deoxy-D-glucose, and alpha-methyl-D-glucoside, and this implied the existence of at least two uptake mechanisms. Different patterns of inhibition of 2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake and alpha-methyl-D-glucoside uptake at 0.1 mM by various carbohydrates revealed differences in the stereospecificities of the transport systems. Osmotic shock treatment abolished transport activities, and two independent glucose-binding activities were detected in the supernatants. Induction of glucose transport was repressed strongly by L-malate, even in the presence of excess D-glucose. Rhizobium bacteroids showed no significant glucose uptake activity at different oxygen concentrations. These results suggested that glucose transport is repressed by dicarboxylic acids during R. leguminosarum symbiosis.

Leucine auxotrophs of Neurospora fall into two discrete categories with respect to sensitivity to the herbicide, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole. The pattern of resistance corresponds exactly to the ability to produce the leucine pathway control elements, alpha-isopropylmalate and the leu-3 product. An analysis of the regulatory response of the production of enzymes of histidine biosynthesis to alpha-isopropylmalate implicates the control elements of the leucine pathway as important components of the mechanism governing the production of the target enzyme of aminotriazole inhibition, imidazoleglycerol-phosphate dehydratase (EC 4.2.1.19). The evidence suggests that the regulatory interconnection between the two pathways is direct and is independent of other general integrating regulatory mechanisms which appear to be operative in both pathways. A general method for isolating leu-1 and leu-2, as well as other regulatory mutants, is described, which takes advantage of the specificity of the resistance to the inhibitor. Use of analogous systems is prescribed for the analysis of other regulatory interconnections which, like this one, might not be anticipated directly from structural or biosynthetic considerations.

Rhodospirillum rubrum grown in continuous culture with glutamate as the sole fixed C and N source produced no nitrogenase, and the cultures were characterized by high extracellular ammonium concentrations. Addition of organic acids derepressed nitrogenase. Glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamine synthetase, glutamate synthase, malate dehydrogenase, nitrogenase, and ammonium were assayed before and after malate addition.

Salmonella, but not Escherichia coli, was attracted to citrate, a distinction that is understandable in view of the inability of E. coli to transport tricarboxylic acids. The Salmonella response to citrate and to two previously described attractants, aspartate and malate, was mutually noncompetitive. Citrate taxis different from citrate uptake in that it did not require Na+, was constitutive, and was not repressible by glucose.

The regulation of the penicillin acylase in proteus rettgeri ATCC 31052 was compared with that of the enzyme in Escherichia coli ATCC 9637. Unlike the E. coli acylase, the P. rettgeri enzyme was not induced by phenylacetic acid, nor was it subject to catabolite repression by glucose. The P. rettgeri acylase appears to be expressed constitutively but is subject to repression by the C4-dicarboxylic acids of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, succinate, fumarate, and malate.

A study was made to determine whether factors other than the availability of phosphorus were involved in the regulation of synthesis of teichoic and teichuronic acids in Bacillus subtilis subsp. niger WM. First, the nature of the carbon source was varied while the dilution rate was maintained at about 0.3 h-1. Irrespective of whether the carbon source was glucose, glycerol, galactose, or malate, teichoic acid was the main anionic wall polymer whenever phosphorus was present in excess of the growth requirement, and teichuronic acid predominated in the walls of phosphate-limited cells. The effect of growth rate was studied by varying the dilution rate. However, only under phosphate limitation did the wall composition change with the growth rate: walls prepared from cells grown at dilution rates above 0.5 h-1 contained teichoic as well as teichuronic acid, despite the culture still being phosphate limited. The wall content of the cells did not vary with the nature of the growth limitation, but a correlation was observed between the growth rate and wall content. No indications were obtained that the composition of the peptidoglycan of B. subtilis subsp. niger WM was phenotypically variable.

The enzymatic carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate by cell-free extracts of Neisseria gonorrhoeae was examined and determined to be similar to the reaction catalyzed by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC). This was shown by the irreversibility of the reaction and nucleotide independency. The enzyme was found to have some characteristics different from the other bacterial PEPCs reported. The enzyme showed catalytic activity in the presence of cobalt ions as well as magnesium and manganese ions, was not inhibited by succinate in fresh extracts, and displayed a low Michaelis constant for bicarbonate (0.27 mM), as compared with other PEPCs. The significance of this low Michaelis constant is discussed with respect to the growth of the organism and the importance of this enzyme to protein and nucleic acid synthesis.

D-Aldohexopyranoside:cytochrome c oxidoreductase (ACO) was strongly induced by cellobiose, alpha-methylglucoside, beta-methylglucoside, kojibiose, and sophorose. Induction was rapid, and ACO was readily detectable within 10 min after addition of cellobiose as inducer. Although not measurable for 30 to 40 min after addition of inducer, once started, the rate of induction with alpha-methylglucoside equaled or even exceeded that obtained with cellobiose. Induction by sucrose, maltose, alpha-alpha-trehalose, melibiose, and lactose was weak. In general, the active ACO inducers were poor glycosidase inducers; the converse also appeared to be true. Although ACO induction was not repressed by D-glucose, it was repressed by succinate, malate, and fumarate.

Acetate kinases from the genus Veillonella were divided into two types: a succinate-stimulated enzyme and a succinate-independent enzyme. Three strains, V. parvula ATCC 17743 (antigenic group II), V. parvula ATCC 17744 (V), and V. parvula ATCC 10790 (VI), contained the succinate-stimulated enzyme. Among four types strains of V. alcalescens, three strains, ATCC 17747 (I), ATCC 17746 (III), and ATCC 17748 (VII), contained the succinate-independent enzyme, whereas only one strain, ATCC 17745 (IV), contained the succinate-stimulated enzyme. Small amounts of antiserum to the purified acetate kinase from V. alcalescens ATCC 17748 completely inhibited the purified and crude enzyme activity from the strain. Classification of the enzymes on the basis of stimulation by succinate was consistent with classification based on serological reactions using the antiserum as an independent parameter. The succinate-stimulated enzyme could be separated into two classes according to the degree of sensitivity to succinate: (i) enzymes from V. parvula ATCC 17744 and V. alcalescens ATCC 17745, which could be demonstrated on gel after electrophoresis by a histochemical method to be highly stimulated by the presence of succinate in the reaction mixture, and (ii) enzymes from V. parvula ATCC 10790 and V. parvula ATCC 17743, which could be easily demonstrated without succinate. Four groups of acetate kinases from the genus Veillonella were separated by gel electrophoretic mobility. The results showed that almost all enzymes from the seven type strains were heterogeneous at the molecular level.

Cells grown in minimal medium and harvested in late exponential phase secreted extracellular protease linearly when suspended at high density in fresh medium. If the cells were suspended with 0.2% (wt/vol) yeast extract and no additional carbon source, the rate of exoenzyme production was increased several-fold. When pyruvate, L-malate, succinate, or alpha-ketoglutarate was added, repression of exoenzyme secretion was observed. The most effective repressor was alpha-ketoglutarate. These compounds were also preferred substrates for growth of Pseudomonas maltophilia. The data suggest that exoenzyme secretion is controlled by a mechanism similar to catabolite repression. In support of this was the observation that alpha-ketoglutarate repressed exoenzyme secretion preferentially with respect to total protein synthesis. The addition of inhibitors that affect protein synthesis indicated that exoenzyme secretion is several times more sensitive than is total protein synthesis. The addition of chloramphenicol and rifamycin-SV to actively secreting cell suspensions suggested that de novo protein synthesis is required, but that exoenzyme secretion may be supported for at least 30 min in the absence of messenger synthesis. Rifamycin-insensitive protease secretion could be reversed by either alpha-ketoglutarate or chloramphenicol, suggesting that alpha-ketoglutarate is coupled to a post-transcriptional control mechanism.

Two pantothenate-requiring mutants of Agrobacterium tumefaciens have been isolated. One of them (strain WMP-1) is unusual in that growth levels equivalent to the parent strain are achieved only when the medium is additionally supplemented with aspartate or another compound related to the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Extracts of cells grown on limiting aspartate were found to contain four times more (14)C-pantothenate than those grown at optimal aspartate concentrations. This difference was found in both the perchloric acid-soluble and -insoluble fractions, presumably the coenzyme A pool and acyl carrier protein, respectively. These findings are discussed in terms of membrane integrity and the control of fatty acid biosynthesis.

Spores heated in water at 54 C for up to 1 hr were plated on nutrient agar immediately or held for 3 days in aerated water at 23 C and then plated. Under these conditions, holding was optimal for recovery, increasing survival percentage up to 20-fold over values for immediate plating. Recovery was prevented partially or completely, however, when spores were held in any of the following solutions: glucose, potassium phosphate, ammonium or sodium acetate, sodium azide, or 2,4-dinitrophenol, or in the sodium or potassium salts of pyruvate, and tricarboxylic acid cycle acids. Both anaerobiosis and incubation at 0 C prevented recovery. Survivors of a heat treatment were more sensitive to gamma radiation than were unheated spores. Conditions which affected the recovery of viability had the same effect on restoration of radiation resistance. Thus, many of the processes for restoration of radiation resistance seem involved also in recovery of viability after heating. After a 99% inactivating treatment (about 30 min at 54 C), heated spores respired as fast as unheated spores, or faster. Malate, citrate, succinate, and acetate stimulated respiration in unheated spores and inhibited it in heated spores.

Induction of an nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-specific malic enzyme and a malate entry system permits Streptococcus faecalis to grow at the expense of malate. Evidence is presented which shows that biosynthesis of the permease, but not of the malic enzyme, is subject to catabolite repression by glucose. In contrast to the malic enzyme, the catalytic function of the entry system does not appear to be inhibited by intermediate products of glycolysis. Although the induction of the entry system does not appear to be coordinated with the induction of the malic enzyme, the latter process is dependent upon the permease for the transport and accumulation of inducer.

A mutant strain of Salmonella typhimurium (SL 1634 dml-51) capable of growth on d-malate as sole carbon source was shown to produce d-malic enzyme. This enzyme was absent in the parent wild-type strain which was unable to grow on d-malate. Growth of the mutant on d-malate also resulted in a greatly increased level of beta-isopropylmalic enzyme compared with its level in the wild-type strain grown on citrate or l-malate. The d-malic and beta-isopropylmalic enzymes, both of which catalyze a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide- and Mg(++)-dependent oxidative decarboxylation of their respective substrates, were shown to be distinct enzymes by selective inhibition with erythro-dl-beta-hydroxyaspartate and by other methods. Cell extracts of the mutant strain also oxidized dl-beta-methyl-, dl-beta-ethyl-, dl-beta-propyl- and dl-betabeta-dimethylmalates, in order of decreasing activity. dl-beta-Methyl-malate was shown to be oxidized by both the d-malic and the beta-isopropylmalic enzymes, whereas the oxidation of the other beta-alkylmalates appeared to be effected exclusively by the beta-isopropylmalic enzyme. beta-Isopropylmalic enzyme activity was induced by d-malate but not by l-malate, showing that it behaved as a d-malictype enzyme. Growth of Aerobacter aerogenes on d-malate, which caused induction of d malic enzyme, resulted in only a small increase in the activity of beta-isopropylmalic enzyme.

Leuconostoc mesenteroides increased its lactic acid production from glucose threefold when malic acid was added to the culture. This increase resulted also in a reduction of the ratio of d-lactic acid to l-lactic acid (31.5 to 1.23). Addition of malic acid increased 6.5-fold the specific activity of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-linked l-lactate dehydrogenase and increased 3.2-fold that of NAD-linked d-lactate dehydrogenase. The Michaelis constant (K(m)) for NAD of the NAD-linked l-lactate dehydrogenase increased with the addition of malate, but no change was observed in the K(m) values for the respective d-enzyme. The effect of carboxylic acids on the NAD-linked l-lactate dehydrogenase activities was tested by using partially purified enzyme preparations from cells grown with glucose alone and from cells grown with glucose plus malate. Malate stimulated the l-enzyme and inhibited the d-lactate dehydrogenase. The NAD-linked l-lactate dehydrogenase exhibited the same activity bands on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis whether the cell-free preparation originated from cells grown on glucose plus malate or on glucose as the sole carbon source. The NAD-linked d-lactate dehydrogenase, however, exhibited a different pattern of electrophoretic mobility, depending upon the source of origin of the cell-free preparation. The results suggest that malate has a stimulatory effect on the synthesis of both enzymes and may result in rearrangement of the protein structure of the d-lactate dehydrogenase. This rearrangement apparently makes the d-enzyme more susceptible to inhibition of catalytic activity. The l-lactate dehydrogenase, however, is stimulated not only in its synthesis but also in its activity. It is proposed that these effects are responsible for the regulation of lactic acid production.

Accumulation of l-alpha-glycerophosphate, in cells of Bacillus subtilis mutants lacking the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-independent glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity, suppresses both growth and sporulation. After growth has stopped, the cells slowly develop one and later more asymmetric septa that are thicker than normal prespore septa and apparently contain too much cell wall material to allow further membrane development into forespores or spores. l-Malate prevents accumulation of glycerophosphate and restores sporulation of the mutant. Glucose or gluconate cannot resotre sporulation, because they still effect glycerophosphate accumulation via de novo synthesis. If that accumulation is blocked in a double mutant, which is unable to make glycerophosphate from or to metabolize it into Embden-Meyerhof compounds, then nonsuppressing amounts of glucose or gluconate can restore sporulation.

Cell yields of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Aerobacter cloacae UW-C83, Escherichia coli K-12, Candida utilis UW-3, and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis UW-110 grown aerobically on several carbon sources are reported. The Y(atp) concept is discussed in relation to the yields on oxygen and to assumed P to O ratios for bacteria and reported P to O ratios for yeast.