Functional analysis of 14 genes that constitute the purine catabolic pathway in Bacillus subtilis and evidence for a novel regulon controlled by the PucR transcription activator.

ABSTRACT: The soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis has developed a highly controlled system for the utilization of a diverse array of low-molecular-weight compounds as a nitrogen source when the preferred nitrogen sources, e.g., glutamate plus ammonia, are exhausted. We have identified such a system for the utilization of purines as nitrogen source in B. subtilis. Based on growth studies of strains with knockout mutations in genes, complemented with enzyme analysis, we could ascribe functions to 14 genes encoding enzymes or proteins of the purine degradation pathway. A functional xanthine dehydrogenase requires expression of five genes (pucA, pucB, pucC, pucD, and pucE). Uricase activity is encoded by the pucL and pucM genes, and a uric acid transport system is encoded by pucJ and pucK. Allantoinase is

SUBMITTER: Schultz AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC99626 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature