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The genetic organization of arginine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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Summary

Six loci coding for arginine biosynthetic enzymes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO were identified by enzyme assay: argA (N-acetylglutamate synthase), argB (N-acetylglutamate 5-phosphotransferase), argC (N-acetylglutamate 5-semialdehyde dehydrogenase), argF (anabolic ornithine carbamoyltransferase), argG (argininosuccinate synthetase), and argH (argininosuccinase). One-step mutants which had a requirement for arginine and uracil were defective in carbamoylphosphate synthase, specified by a locus designated car. To map these mutations we used the sex factor FP2 in an improved interrupted mating technique as well as the generalized transducing phages F116L and G101. We confirmed earlier studies, and found no clustering of arg and car loci. However, argA, argH, and argB were mapped on a short chromosome segment (approx. 3 min long), and argF and argG were cotransducible, but not contiguous.

N-Acetylglutamate synthase, the enzyme which replenishes the cycle of acetylated intermediates in ornithine synthesis of Pseudomonas, appears to be essential for arginine synthesis since argA mutants showed no growth on unsupplemented minimal medium.

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Author notes

  1. Dieter Haas

    Present address: Institut Pasteur, 25, rue du Docteur Roux, F-75224, Paris, France

  2. Anton Schamböck

    Present address: Institut für Molekularbiologie I, Universität Zürich, Hönggerberg, CH-8049, Zürich, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Monash University, 3168, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Dieter Haas & Bruce W. Holloway

  2. Mikrobiologisches Institut, Eldgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    Anton Schamböck & Thomas Leisinger

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  1. Dieter Haas
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  2. Bruce W. Holloway
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Communicated by G.A. O'Donovan

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Haas, D., Holloway, B.W., Schamböck, A. et al. The genetic organization of arginine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Molec. Gen. Genet. 154, 7–22 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00265571

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