Effect of growth conditions on levels of components of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system in Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus grown in continuous culture.

The membrane-bound, sugar-specific enzyme II (EII) component of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) in Streptococcus mutans Ingbritt is repressed by growth on glucose under various conditions in continuous culture. Compared with optimal PTS conditions (i.e., glucose limitation, dilution rate [D] of 0.1 h-1, and pH 7.0), EII activity for glucose (EIIGlc) and mannose (EIIMan) in cells grown at a D of 0.4 h-1 and pH 5.5 with the same glucose concentration was reduced 24- to 27-fold. EII activity with methyl alpha-glucoside and 2-deoxyglucose was reduced 6- and 26-fold, respectively. Growth with excess glucose (i.e., nitrogen limitation) resulted in 26- to 88-fold repression of EII activity with these substrates. The above conditions of low pH, high dilution rate, and excess glucose also repressed EII activity for fructose (EIIFru), but to a lesser extent (two- to fivefold). Conversely, growth of S. mutans DR0001 at a D of 0.2 h-1 and pH 5.5 resulted in increased EIIGlc and EIIMan activity. Unlike the EII component, the HPr concentration in S. mutans Ingbritt varied only twofold (5.5 to 11.4 nmol/mg of protein) despite growth at pH 5.5 with limiting and excess glucose. The HPr concentrations in S. mutans DR0001 and the glucose-PTS-defective mutant DR0001/6 were similar. In a companion study, the soluble components of the PTS (i.e., HPr, EI, and EIIILac) in Streptococcus sobrinus grown on limiting lactose in a chemostat were not influenced significantly by growth at various pHs (7.0 and 5.0) and growth rates (D of 0.1, 0.54, and 0.8 h-1). However, growth on lactose resulted in repression of both EIIGlc and EIIFru, confirming earlier results with batch-grown cells. Thus, the glucose-PTS in some strains of S. mutans is regulated at the level of EII synthesis by certain environmental conditions.