Distribution of the phosphoenolpyruvate:glucose phosphotransferase system in fermentative bacteria

Abstract

A number of selected fermentative bacteria were surveyed for the presence of the phosphoenolpyruvate:glucose phosphotransferase system, with particular attention to those organisms which ferment glucose by pathways other than the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway. The phosphoenolpyruvate:glucose phosphotransferase system was found in all homofermentative lactic acid bacteria tested that ferment glucose via the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway, but in none of a group of heterofermentative species of Lactobacillius or Leuconostoc, which ferment glucose via the phosphoketolase pathway. A phosphoenolpyruvate:glucose phosphotransferase system was also absent in Zymomonas mobilis, which ferments glucose via an anaerobic Entner-Doudoroff pathway. It thus appears that the phosphotransferase mode of glucose transport is limited to bacteria with the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas mode of glucose fermentation.

Regulation of sugar transport and metabolism in lactic acid bacteria

“…However, it is only in the past decade that the mechanisms for transport of different sugars have been identified, and at least partially characterized in these industrially important microorganisms ( Fig. 1 and [4][5][6]). In active transport, the sugars are accumulated intracellularly in the free form and are subsequently phosphorylated by ATP-dependent kinases.…”

Evidence of a glucose proton motive force-dependent permease and a fructose phosphoenolpyruvate:phosphotransferase transport system in Lactobacillus reuteri CRL 1098

“…Second, since the sugar is transported and concomitantly phosphorylated, it can directly enter catabolic and anabolic pathways, hence saving ATP and favoring growth under limited energy supply conditions. The PTS was considered to be only present in homofermentative LAB (fermenting glucose through the EMP pathway) but not in heterofermentative species using the PKP pathway [3]. Recently, Saier et al [15] reported that, while growing on fructose, the synthesis of a fructose-speci¢c PTS and glycolytic enzymes is induced in Lactobacillus brevis, which allows for fructose to be metabolized via the EMP.…”

“…PEP is the phosphate donor in the phosphoryl transfer chain leading to sugar-spe-ci¢c PTS transport and phosphorylation. Hence, according to the catabolic pathway used, a di¡erent pool of PEP will be generated that would condition the transport system [1,3].…”

The adaptive genome of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough

“…This pathway, first discovered in muscle tissue, occurs in many bacteria. The occurrence of a PTS mode of transport seems to be limited to bacteria with an EMP mode of fermentation (Romano et al, 1979), and therefore it can be expected that the enzymes of the EMP pathway are present in D. vulgaris Hildenborough, as shown in Table 2. Furthermore, the conversion of mannose-6phosphate (the product of mannose PTS transport) to fructose-6-phosphate should occur in D. vulgaris Hildenborough, as shown by the presence of mannose-6-phosphate isomerase among the proteins revealed by genome analysis (DVU0697).…”