Induction and repression of L-arabinose isomerase in Salmonella typhimurium.

As with other inducible enzymes, the induced synthesis of l-arabinose isomerase (l-arabinose ketol isomerase, EC 5.3.1.4) in Salmonella typhimurium is subject to catabolite repression. Of the three catabolite repressors tested, glucose produces maximum repression. Analogues of catabolite repressors like 2-deoxy-d-glucose and d-fucose also inhibit the synthesis of the enzyme. The catabolite repression is completely reversed in the presence of 1.5 x 10(-3)m cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate (AMP). The maximum repression is produced in glucose-grown cells in glucose-containing induction medium. Cyclic 3',5-AMP reverses this repression provided that the cells are treated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). In normal cells, cyclic 3',5'-AMP has no effect on the induction but in EDTA-treated cells the cyclic nucleotide enhances synthesis of the enzyme. The inhibition produced by d-fucose cannot be reversed by cyclic 3',5'-AMP. d-Fucose competes with the inducer l-arabinose in some step(s) involved in the process of induction.