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Serine sensitivity of Escherichia coli K 12: Partial characterization of a serine resistant mutant that is extremely sensitive to 2-ketobutyrate

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Summary

E. coli wild type bacteria display sensitivity towards serine. A selection medium is described which allows selection of serine resistant mutants. One such mutant is described which presents pleiotropic alterations: it exhibits a thermosensitive growth pattern, alteration in the metabolism of the pppGpp and ppGpp nucleotides, cAMP intracellular level alteration, extreme sensitivity to 2-ketobutyric acid and a defect in the phosphotransferases permeation system. A conjecture explaining these apparently unrelated defects supposes that serine metabolism interferes via phosphoenol pyruvate with a cytoplasmic control of membrane activity (the mutant would be defective in the coupling between membrane and the protein responsible for its cytoplasmic control) and that 2-ketobutyrate is an effector of this activity.

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Abbreviations

smg:

serine+methionine+glycine (addition to the growth medium)

IPTG:

isopropyl-β-D thiogalactoside (lactose operon inducer)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, 13, rue Pierre et Marie Curie, F-75005, Paris, France

    Antoine Danchin & Liliane Dondon

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  1. Antoine Danchin
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  2. Liliane Dondon
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Communicated by G. O'Donovan

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Danchin, A., Dondon, L. Serine sensitivity of Escherichia coli K 12: Partial characterization of a serine resistant mutant that is extremely sensitive to 2-ketobutyrate. Molec. Gen. Genet. 178, 155–164 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00267224

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00267224

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