Glutamate is required to maintain the steady-state potassium pool in Salmonella typhimurium

In many bacteria, accumulation of K+ at high external osmolalities is accompanied by accumulation of glutamate. To determine whether there is an obligatory relationship between glutamate and K+ pools, we studied mutant strains of Salmonella typhimurium with defects in glutamate synthesis. Enteric bacteria synthesize glutamate by the combined action of glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase (GS/GOGAT cycle) or the action of biosynthetic glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH). Activity of the GS/GOGAT cycle is required under nitrogen-limiting conditions and is decreased at high external ammonium/ammonia ((NH4)+) concentrations by lowered synthesis of GS and a decrease in its catalytic activity due to covalent modification (adenylylation by GS adenylyltransferase). By contrast, GDH functions efficiently only at high external (NH4)+ concentrations, because it has a low affinity for (NH4)+. When grown at low concentrations of (NH4)+ (< or = 2 mM), mutant strains of S. typhimurium that lack GOGAT and therefore are dependent on GDH have a low glutamate pool and grow slowly; we now demonstrate that they have a low K+ pool. When subjected to a sudden (NH4)+ upshift, strains lacking GS adenylyltransferase drain their glutamate pool into glutamine and grow very slowly; we now find that they also drain their K+ pool. Restoration of the glutamate pool in these strains at late times after shift was accompanied by restoration of the K+ pool and a normal growth rate. Taken together, the results indicate that glutamate is required to maintain the steady-state K+ pool -- apparently no other anion can substitute as a counter-ion for free K+ -- and that K+ glutamate is required for optimal growth.