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Characterization of the ugpG gene encoding a UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase from the gellan gum producer Sphingomonas paucimobilis ATCC 31461

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Abstract

The ugpG gene, which codes for a UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (UGP) (or glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase; EC 2.7.7.9) in Sphingomonas paucimobilis ATCC 31461, was cloned and sequenced. This industrial strain produces the exopolysaccharide gellan, a new commercial gelling agent, and the ugpG gene may convert glucose-1-phosphate into UDP-glucose in the gellan biosynthetic pathway. The ugpG gene is capable of restoring the capacity of an Escherichia coli galU mutant to grow on galactose by functional complementation of its deficiency for UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase activity. As expected, the predicted gene product shows strong homology to UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylases from several bacterial species. The N-terminal region of UgpG exhibits the motif GXGTRXLPXTK, which is highly conserved among bacterial XDP-sugar pyrophosphorylases, and a lysine residue (K192) is located within a VEKP motif predicted to be essential for substrate binding or catalysis. UgpG was purified to homogeneity as a heterologous fusion protein from crude cell extracts prepared from IPTG-induced cells of E. coli, using affinity chromatography. Under denaturing conditions, the fusion protein S-UgpG-His6 migrated with an estimated molecular mass of 36 kDa [corresponding to the predicted molecular mass of native UgpG (31.2 kDa) plus 5 kDa for the S and histidine tags). Kinetic analysis of UgpG in the reverse reaction (pyrophosphorolysis) showed a typical Michaelis-Menten substrate saturation pattern. The apparent K m and V max values estimated for UDP-glucose were 7.5 μM and 1275 μmol/min/g.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (grants: PRAXIS/P/BIO/12020/1998 and POCTI/35733/1999 and PhD and M Sc scholarships to A.R.Marques and P.B. Ferreira, respectively).

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  1. Centro de Engenharia Biológica e Química, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal

    A. R. Marques, P. B. Ferreira, I. Sá-Correia & A. M. Fialho

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  1. A. R. Marques
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  2. P. B. Ferreira
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  3. I. Sá-Correia
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  4. A. M. Fialho
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Correspondence to A. M. Fialho.

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Communicated by A. Kondorosi

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Marques, A.R., Ferreira, P.B., Sá-Correia, I. et al. Characterization of the ugpG gene encoding a UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase from the gellan gum producer Sphingomonas paucimobilis ATCC 31461. Mol Gen Genomics 268, 816–824 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-003-0805-7

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