REGULATORY MECHANISMS IN THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF ISOLEUCINE AND VALINE. I. GENETIC DEREPRESSION OF ENZYME FORMATION.

Ramakrishnan, T. (Yale University, New Haven, Conn.), and Edward A. Adelberg. Regulatory mechanisms in the biosynthesis of isoleucine and valine. I. Genetic derepression of enzyme formation. J. Bacteriol. 87:566-573. 1964.-A total of 60 mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 resistant to 10(-2)m valine were isolated from the valine-sensitive F' strain AB1206. Conjugation experiments showed that in five of these mutants the valine-resistance locus is closely linked to the structural genes governing isoleucine-valine biosynthesis. In these five valine-resistant mutants, three enzymes of the isoleucine-valine pathway were found to be coordinately derepressed: l-threonine deaminase, dihydroxy acid dehydrase, and transaminase B. Two other enzymes of this pathway, the condensing enzyme and the reductoisomerase, were unaffected. The mutation from valine-sensitivity to valine-resistance appears to have altered an operator locus, because the derepressed state is dominant over the repressed state in diploids heterozygous for the valine-resistance locus. The valine-resistant mutants excrete isoleucine into the medium. The significance of these findings with respect to the valine-sensitivity of E. coli K-12 and the regulation of the biosynthesis of isoleucine and valine by this organism are discussed.