Analysis of the zwf-pgl-eda-operon in Pseudomonas putida strains H and KT2440

A 3.9-kb fragment of the genome of Pseudomonas putida H, containing the complete zwf-pgl-eda-operon, encoding glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconolactonase and 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate-aldolase, respectively, and part of the divergently transcribed regulatory gene, hexR, was cloned and analyzed. The nucleotide sequences of these genes showed high similarities to the corresponding DNA sequences of P. putida KT2440 and also to sequences of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Derivatives of strains H and KT2440, containing transcriptional lacZ fusions to P(zwf) were generated and used to study the expression of these operons. In both strains, this operon was induced by carbohydrates such as glucose, gluconate, fructose and glycerol. The transcription rate of the zwf-pgl-eda-operon was found to be about three times higher in the KT2440 background than in strain H. In both strains the induction of the zwf-pgl-eda-operon by carbohydrates during growth on carboxylic acids was not affected by carbon catabolite repression.