It remains unclear, which of the many catabolic enzymes may be affected by the lack of N-terminal protein formylation. Moreover, we noted that transcription of some transport proteins of unknown function was reduced in Δfmt and it cannot be ruled out that one or several of these may be required for amino acid uptake. Extracellular accumulation of the central metabolic intermediate pyruvate was much more pronounced in Δfmt than in the wild type, which was accompanied by reduced production of pyruvate-derived alanine and fermentation products acetoin and lactate. The production of fermentation products suggests that our cultivation conditions were not fully aerobic. The concomitantly

reduced transcription of alanine dehydrogenase, acetolactate decarboxylase, and lactate dehydrogenases suggests that pyruvate accumulation may be a result of transcriptional repression of selleck kinase inhibitor selleck products fermentative pathways in Δfmt the reasons for which remain unknown and may result e.g. from altered activity of metabolic regulators such as the

NAD+-sensing Rex [18]. However, the specific activity of the pyruvate-oxidizing PDHC was also reduced in the mutant, which is in accord with the increased NAD+/NADH ratio in the mutant and our recent finding that inhibition of S. aureus PDHC leads to accumulation of extracellular pyruvate [21]. Since transcription of the PDHC-encoding genes pdhABCD was learn more unaltered in Δfmt its reduced PDHC activity may indicate that one or several proteins of PdhABCD may require a formylated N-terminus for full activity. Since inactivation of Fmt should lead to increased amounts of formyl THF and reduced amounts of free THF in Δfmt we proposed that the mutant should have altered susceptibility to antibiotics that block the de novo synthesis of THF. In fact, Δfmt was more susceptible to trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole than the wild type, which indicates that the folic acid metabolism was perturbed by fmt inactivation and suggests that the availability Decitabine of THF derivatives that are e.g. necessary for purine biosynthesis becomes growth-limiting at lower antibiotic

concentrations as in the wild type. Conclusions Our study shows that the lack of protein formylation does not abrogate all kinds of metabolic activities but has particular impacts in certain pathways. Elucidating, which specific enzymes or regulators may lose their activity by the lack of formylation remains a challenging aim. Our approach will be of importance for defining individual metabolic pathways depending on formylated proteins and it represents a basis for more detailed studies. Addressing these questions will not only be of importance for understanding a central bacterial process, it may also help to identify new antibiotic targets and further elucidate the importance of formylated peptides in innate immune recognition. Methods Bacterial strains and growth S.

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