Selection of Salmonella typhimurium mutants with altered serine transhydroxymethylase regulation

In Salmonella typhimurium the glyA gene product, serine transhydroxymethylase (E.C. 2.1.2.1.; L-serine:tetrahydrofolate-5,10-hydroxymethyltransferase) is responsible for the interconversion of serine and glycine. This reaction also provides the cell with one-carbon units from the 5,10-methylene-tetrahydrofolate formed during glycine synthesis. Despite the importance of this enzyme, however, no mutants in which its regulation has been specificially altered have been isolated. To isolate such mutants, we have devised a selection procedure using a strain (glyA951) in which the serine transhydroxymethylase activity is reduced. When this enzyme is completely repressed, the mutant requires gylcine for growth. Revertants which retain the glyA951 lesion, but no longer require glycine, have been isolated and the serine transhydroxymethylase regulation examined. One revertant has a 7-fold elevated serine transhydroxymethylase level, which can be repressed the normal amount (about 5-fold) when the cells are grown in supplemented media. Another revertant has only a 2-fold higher serine transhydroxymethylase level; however, the amount of repression is reduced. The new lesions in both mutants cotransduce with the glyA gene and are distinct from other mutations that alter the regulation of both serine transhydroxymethylase and the methionine biosyntheitc enzymes.