Altered prephenate dehydratase in phenylalanine-excreting mutants of Brevibacterium flavum

The regulatory properties of three key enzymes in the phenylalanine biosynthetic pathway, 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthetase (DAHP synthetase) [EC 4.1.2.15], chorismate mutase [EC 5.4.99.5], and prephenate dehydratase [prephenate hydro-lyase (decarboxylating), EC 4.2.1.51] were compared in three phenylalanine-excreting mutants and the wild strain of Brevibacterium flavum. Regulation of DAHP synthetase by phenylalanine and tyrosine in these mutants did not change at all, but the specific activities of the mutant cell extracts increased 1.3- to 2.8-fold, as reported previously (1). Chorismate mutase activities in both the wild and the mutant strains were cumulatively inhibited by phenylalanine and tyrosine and recovered with tryptophan, while the specific activities of the mutants increased 1.3- to 2.8-fold, like those of DAHP synthetase. On the other hand, the specific activities of prephenate dehydratase in the mutant and wild strains were similar, when tyrosine was present. While prephenate dehydratase of the wild strain was inhibited by phenylalanine, tryptophan, and several phenylalanine analogues, the mutant enzymes were not inhibited at all but were activated by these effectors. Tyrosine activated the mutant enzymes much more strongly than the wild-type enzyme: in mutant 221-43, 1 mM tyrosine caused 28-fold activation. Km and the activation constant for tyrosine were slightly altered to a half and 6-fold compared with the wild-type enzyme, respectively, while the activation constants for phenylalanine and tryptophan were 500-fold higher than the respective inhibition constants of the wild-type enzyme. The molecular weight of the mutant enzyme was estimated to be 1.2 x 10(5), a half of that of the wild-type enzyme. The molecular weight of the mutant enzyme was estimated to be 1.2 X 10(5) a half of that of the wild type enzyme, while in the presence of tyrosine, phenylalanine, or tryptophan, it increased to that of the wild-type enzyme. Immediately after the mutant enzyme had been activated by tyrosine and then the tyrosine removed, it still showed about 10-fold higher specific activity than before the activation by tyrosine. However, on standing in ice the activity gradually fell to the initial level before the activation by tyrosine. Ammonium sulfate promoted the decrease of the activity. On the basis of these results, regulatory mechanisms for phenylalanine biosynthesis in vivo as well as mechanisms for the phenylalanine overproduction in the mutants are discussed.