The Haemophilus influenzae adenylate cyclase gene: cloning, sequence, and essential role in competence

Competence for transformation in Haemophilus influenzae is stimulated by cyclic AMP (cAMP) and requires the cAMP-dependent catabolite regulatory protein CRP. Thus, understanding the control of competence will require understanding how cAMP levels are regulated. As a first step, we have cloned the H. influenzae adenylate cyclase gene (cya) by complementing the Lac- phenotype of delta cya Escherichia coli. Its sequence specifies an 843-amino-acid protein which has significant identity to other known bacterial adenylate cyclases (41 to 43% and 61% identical to the cya genes of enteric bacteria and of Pasteurella multocida, respectively). As seen in other bacterial cya genes, there is evidence for regulation similar to that demonstrated for E. coli: the presence of a strong consensus CRP binding site within the promoter of the gene may provide feedback control of cAMP levels by repressing cya transcription, and translation may be limited by the weak ribosome binding site and by initiation of protein synthesis with GUG rather than AUG or the UUG used in other bacterial cya genes. We confirmed the essential role of cAMP in competence by constructing and characterizing H. influenzae cya mutants. This strain failed to develop competence either spontaneously or after transfer to a competence-inducing medium. However, it became as competent as its wild-type parent in the presence of exogenous cAMP. This result suggests that the failure of exogenously added cAMP to induce optimum competence in wild-type cells is not due to a limitation to the entry of cAMP into the cells. Rather, it strongly favors models in which competence induction requires both an increase in intracellular cAMP and a second as yet unidentified regulatory event. H. influenzae strains mutant in cya or crp were unable to ferment xylose or ribose. This confirms that influenzae, like E. coli, uses cAMP and CRP to regulate nutrient uptake and utilization and lends increasing support to the hypothesis that DNA uptake is mechanism of nutrient acquisition.