Phenotypic Consequences Resulting from a Methionine-to-Valine Substitution at Position 48 in the HPr Protein of Streptococcus salivarius

Abstract

ABSTRACT In gram-positive bacteria, the HPr protein of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) can be phosphorylated on a histidine residue at position 15 (His 15 ) by enzyme I (EI) of the PTS and on a serine residue at position 46 (Ser 46 ) by an ATP-dependent protein kinase (His∼P and Ser-P, respectively). We have isolated from Streptococcus salivarius ATCC 25975, by independent selection from separate cultures, two spontaneous mutants (Ga3.78 and Ga3.14) that possess a missense mutation in ptsH (the gene encoding HPr) replacing the methionine at position 48 by a valine. The mutation did not prevent the phosphorylation of HPr at His 15 by EI nor the phosphorylation at Ser 46 by the ATP-dependent HPr kinase. The levels of HPr(Ser-P) in glucose-grown cells of the parental and mutant Ga3.78 were virtually the same. However, mutant cells growing on glucose produced two- to threefold less HPr(Ser-P)(His∼P) than the wild-type strain, while the levels of free HPr and HPr(His∼P) were increased 18- and 3-fold, respectively. The mutants grew as well as the wild-type strain on PTS sugars (glucose, fructose, and mannose) and on the non-PTS sugars lactose and melibiose. However, the growth rate of both mutants on galactose, also a non-PTS sugar, decreased rapidly with time. The M48V substitution had only a minor effect on the repression of α-galactosidase, β-galactosidase, and galactokinase by glucose, but this mutation abolished diauxie by rendering cells unable to prevent the catabolism of a non-PTS sugar (lactose, galactose, and melibiose) when glucose was available. The results suggested that the capacity of the wild-type cells to preferentially metabolize glucose over non-PTS sugars resulted mainly from inhibition of the catabolism of these secondary energy sources via a HPr-dependent mechanism. This mechanism was activated following glucose but not lactose metabolism, and it did not involve HPr(Ser-P) as the only regulatory molecule.