Evidence for two NAD kinases in Salmonella typhimurium

The electron-carrying cofactor NADP is formed by phosphorylation of NAD. A strategy for the isolation of NAD kinase mutants revealed two classes of temperature-sensitive mutations, nadF and nadG, mapping at min 13 and 72 of the Salmonella chromosome. Both mutant types grew on nutrient broth at both 30 and 42 degrees C but on minimal medium showed a temperature-sensitive growth defect which was not corrected by any of the single nutritional supplements tested. A nadF deletion mutant grew on nutrient broth but not on minimal medium. A double mutant with the nadF deletion and a nadG(Ts) mutation showed temperature-sensitive growth on all media. We propose that Salmonella typhimurium has two NAD kinases, one encoded by the nadF and one by the nadG gene. This is supported by the fact that temperature-sensitive mutants of both genes produce kinase activity with altered heat stability. Results suggest that either one of two NAD kinases is sufficient for growth on rich medium, but that both are needed for growth on minimal media. Enzyme assays show that the nadF gene is responsible for about 70% of total NAD kinase activity, and that the nadG gene dictates the remaining 30%. While testing nutritional phenotypes of nadF and nadG mutants, we found that the biosynthetic intermediate, quinolinic acid (QA) inhibited growth of nadF mutants on nutrient broth. This suggested that the NadG enzyme might be inhibited by QA. Enzyme assays demonstrated that QA inhibits the NadG but not the NadF enzyme. This suggests the existence of a regulatory mechanism which controls NADP levels.