Purification and properties of a periplasmic protein related to sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport in Escherichia coli.

Protein GLPT, a periplasmic protein previously recognized as closely related to the active transport of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate in Escherichia coli was isolated by the cold osmotic shock procedure. It was purified by Sephadex chromatography and isoelectric focussing. The purified protein does not exhibit any detectable binding activity toward sn-glycerol-3-phosphate. It has no activity as a glycerol phosphatase nor as a glycerol kinase. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of dodecylsulfate of the protein subsequent to treatment in urea, boiling in dodecylsulfate and crosslinking indicates that it occurs as an oligomeric protein composed of four identical subunits of 40 000 molecular weight. Membrane vesicles of wild-type strains that contain protein GLPT in whole cells loose it during vesicle preparation. However, they still exhibit high transport activity toward sn-glycerol-3-phosphate. Membrane vesicles prepared from glp T mutants that may or may not contain protein GLPT do not transport sn-glycerol-3-phospahte. We conclude from these results that protein GLPT does not participate in the energy-dependent active transport through the cytoplasmic membrane but could be involved in facilitating the diffusion of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate through the outer layers of E. coli.