REGULATORY MECHANISMS IN THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF ISOLEUCINE AND VALINE I

Abstract

Ramakrishnan, T. (Yale University, New Haven, Conn.), and Edward A. Adelberg. Regulatory mechanisms in the biosynthesis of isoleucine and valine. I. Genetic derepression of enzyme formation. J. Bacteriol. 87:566–573. 1964.—A total of 60 mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 resistant to 10⁻²m valine were isolated from the valine-sensitive F′ strain AB1206. Conjugation experiments showed that in five of these mutants the valine-resistance locus is closely linked to the structural genes governing isoleucine-valine biosynthesis. In these five valine-resistant mutants, three enzymes of the isoleucine-valine pathway were found to be coordinately derepressed: l-threonine deaminase, dihydroxy acid dehydrase, and transaminase B. Two other enzymes of this pathway, the condensing enzyme and the reductoisomerase, were unaffected. The mutation from valine-sensitivity to valine-resistance appears to have altered an operator locus, because the derepressed state is dominant over the repressed state in diploids heterozygous for the valine-resistance locus. The valine-resistant mutants excrete isoleucine into the medium. The significance of these findings with respect to the valine-sensitivity of E. coli K-12 and the regulation of the biosynthesis of isoleucine and valine by this organism are discussed.