Control of enzyme synthesis in the oxalurate catabolic pathway of Streptococcus faecalis ATCC 11700: evidence for the existence of a third carbamate kinase.

Streptococcus faecalis ATCC 11700 uses oxalurate as a sole energy source for growth. An oxamate carbamoyltransferase and a carbamate kinase, both induced by oxalurate, are involved in this process. The oxalurate-induced kinase is specific for the pathway. Its properties are different from those of the previously characterized agmatine and arginine-induced kinases. Glucose, but not arginine, nor agmatine, two other energy sources, represses the oxalurate pathway. In contrast, oxalurate was found to be at least as effective as glucose in repressing the arginine deiminase pathway in arginine grown cells, or the agmatine deiminase pathway during growth on agmatine.