skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Control of Proteobacterial Central Carbon Metabolism by the HexR Transcriptional Regulator. A Case Study in Shewanella oneidensis

Journal Article · · Journal of Biological Chemistry

Bacteria exploit multiple mechanisms for controlling central carbon metabolism (CCM). Thus, a bioinformatic analysis together with some experimental data implicated HexR transcriptional factor as a global CCM regulator in some lineages of Gammaproteobacteria operating as a functional replacement of Cra regulator characteristic of Enterobacteriales. In this study we combined a large-scale comparative genomic reconstruction of HexRcontrolled regulons in 87 species of Proteobacteria with the detailed experimental analysis of HexR regulatory network in Shewanella oneidensis model system. Although nearly all of the HexR-controlled genes are associated with CCM, remarkable variations were revealed in the scale (from 1-2 target operons in Enterobacteriales up to 20 operons in Aeromonadales) and gene content of HexR regulons between 11 compared lineages. A predicted 17-bp pseudo-palindrome with a consensus tTGTAATwwwATTACa, was confirmed as HexR-binding motif for 15 target operons (comprising 30 genes) by in vitro binding assays. The negative effect of the key CCM intermediate, 2-keto-3-deoxy-6- phosphogluconate, on the DNA-regulator complex formation was verified. A dual mode of HexR action on various target promoters, repression of genes involved in catabolic pathways and activation of gluconeogenic genes, was for the first time predicted by the bioinformatc analysis and experimentally verified by changed gene expression pattern in S. oneidensis AhexR mutant. Phenotypic profiling revealed the inability of this mutant to grow on lactate or pyruvate as a single carbon source. A comparative metabolic flux analysis of wild-type and mutant strains of S. oneidensis using 13Clactate labeling and GC-MS analysis confirmed the hypothesized HexR role as a master regulator of gluconeogenic flux from pyruvate via the transcriptional activation of phosphoenolpyruvate synthase (PpsA).

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1030459
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-83450; JBCHA3; KP1601030; TRN: US201124%%220
Journal Information:
Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 286, Issue 41; ISSN 0021-9258
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English