Isolation of amino acid transport-negative mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and cells with repressed transport activity.

Methods are described for the isolation of amino acid transport-negative mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and for the preparation of cells with repressed, specific amino acid permeases. P. aeruginosa was resistant to high concentrations of the majority of the 53 amino acid analogues examined and was unaffected by low concentrations of any of them. Cells which had been grown in the presence of sublethal concentrations of the few analogues which were inhibitory were subsequently more resistant to the analogues. These cells were also defective in the transport of the corresponding amino acid, as the analogue caused repression of the synthesis of the specific amino acid permease. The cells with repressed transport activity rapidly regained their normal level of constitutive permease when grown in the absence of the analogue. Higher levels of the permeases were induced when these cells were grown in the presence of the appropriate amino acid. The possible mechanisms for the mode of regulation of amino acid permeases are discussed.