Mutants defective in the energy-conserving NADH dehydrogenase of Salmonella typhimurium identified by a decrease in energy-dependent proteolysis after carbon starvation.

NADH dehydrogenase is the first component of the respiratory chain. It transfers electrons from NADH to ubiquinone and concomitantly establishes a proton motive force across the membrane. Salmonella typhimurium mutants defective in this enzyme were isolated in a screen for strains with increased expression of beta-galactosidase from a hemA-lacZ protein fusion. This unexpected phenotype results from stabilization of the hybrid protein during carbon starvation and is apparently due to an energy requirement for proteolytic attack. Sequence analysis of DNA fragments cloned from an insertion mutant indicates that S. typhimurium has a large cluster of genes encoding the energy-conserving NADH dehydrogenase, similar to one recently described in Paracoccus denitrificans. These findings establish the potential for genetic analysis of a complex enzyme whose function, especially in proton efflux, is poorly understood.