Elevated levels of glyoxylate shunt enzymes in Escherichia coli strains constitutive for fatty acid degradation.

Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 constitutive for the synthesis of the enzymes of fatty acid degradation (fadR) have elevated levels of the glyoxylate shunt enzymes, isocitrate lyase and malate synthase. A temperature-sensitive fadR strain has high levels of glyoxylate shunt enzymes when grown at elevated temperatures but has low, inducible levels of glyoxylate shunt enzymes when grown at low temperatures. The increased activity of glyoxylate shunt enzymes did not appear to be due to the degradation of intracellular fatty acids in fadR strains or differences in allosteric effectors in fadR versus fadR+ strains. These studies suggest that the fadR gene product may be involved in the regulation of the glyoxylate operon.