Oxygen-dependent inactivation of glutamine phosphoribosylpyrophosphate amidotransferase in stationary-phase cultures of Bacillus subtilis.

Glutamine phosphoribosylpyrophosphate amidotransferase (ATase) activity is rapidly inactivated in stationary-phase cells of Bacillus subtilis. The inactivation of APase requires both the cessation of rapid cell growth and the presence of oxygen. ATase is inactivated in two protease-deficient mutant strains at a rate similar to that seen in the wild type, and is stable in anaerobic cell-free extracts of the parent strain. These results suggest that the inactivation of ATase is not the result of general proteolysis. The inactivation of ATase in stationary-phase cultures can be inhibited by oxygen starvation. This oxygen requirement does not reflect a dependence on the generation of metabolic energy, but appears to be a direct requirement for molecular oxygen. ATase synthesis is repressed by the addition of adenosine, and is inactivated only after the cessation of exponential growth. Addition of chloramphenicol or rifampin to exponential- and stationary-phase cells does not inhibit ATase inactivation, suggesting that protein or ribonucleic acid synthesis is not required for inactivation. ATase is inactivated at the end of exponential growth in cells that have exhausted a required amino acid.