Variable enzymological patterning in tyrosine biosynthesis as a means of determining natural relatedness among the...

Enzymes of tyrosine biosynthesis (prephenate dehydrogenase and arogenate dehydrogenase) were characterized in 90 species currently classified within the genera Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, and Alcaligenes. Variation in cofactor specificity and regulatory properties of the dehydrogenase proteins allowed the separation of five groups. Taxa defined by enzymological patterning corresponded strikingly with the five ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) homology groups established via rRNA-deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization. rRNA homology groups I, IV, and V all lack activity for arogenate/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) dehydrogenase and separated on this criterion from groups II and III, which have the activity. Group II species possess arogenate dehydrogenase enzyme (reactive with either NAD or NADP) sensitive to feedback inhibition by tyrosine, thereby separating from group III species whose corresponding enzyme was totally insensitive to feedback inhibition. The presence of prephenate/NADP dehydrogenase in group IV defined its separation from groups I and V, which lack this enzyme activity. Group I species possess an arogenate/NAD dehydrogenase that was highly sensitive to inhibition by tyrosine and a prephenate/NAD dehydrogenase of relative insensitivity to tyrosine inhibition. The opposite pattern of sensitivity/insensitivity was seen in group V species. These dehydrogenase characterizations are highly reliable for the keying of a given species to one of the five rRNA homology groups. If necessary, other confirmatory assays can be included using other aromatic pathway enzymes. These results further document the validity and utility of the approach of comparative enzymology and allostery for classification of microorganisms.