Integration of Post-Genomic Techniques to
Study Metabolic and Regulatory Patterns in Bacterial Cells
 Glycolysis is the central process in carbon and energy
metabolism in bacteria. We could demonstrate (in collaboration with Prof. Dr.
M. Hecker, Greifswald) that the synthesis of
several glycolytic enzymes in B. subtilis is induced by glucose and that this induction
depends on a pleiotropic regulator, CcpA. These findings at the proteome level have been
verified by analyzing the B. subtilis transcriptome using DNA microarrays.
Now we want to study the metabolite pools in B. subtilis
in a wild type and a ccpA mutant strain (in
collaboration with Prof. Dr. M. Reuss, Stuttgart). Carbon catbolism in B. subtilis may
thus become the first physiological process in a cell for which there is
information about the proteome, the transeriptome
and the metabolon available. This information is
very important both from a basic scientific point of view as it allows to
deeply strenghten our knowledge on cellular physiology.
Moreover, the understanding of physiology will will
have a great impact on the utilization of Bacillus strains for the production
of industrial products such as enzymes (collaboration with Henkel KGaA, Düsseldorf).
Figures: Glycolytic enzymes on a 2D-Gel Regulation
of the gapA-Operon seen on a DNA macro array Glycolysis and glycolytic genes
in B. subtilis
Key references
Stülke, J. & Hillen, W. (2000) Regulation of
carbon catabolism in Bacillus
species. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 54: 849-880.
Ludwig, H., Homuth, G., Schmalisch,
M., Dyka, F. M., Hecker,
M. & Stülke, J. (2001) Transcription of glycolytic genes and operons in
Bacillus subtilis:
Evidence for the presence of multiple levels of control of the gapA operon. Mol. Microbiol. 41:
409-422.
Ludwig, H., Rebhan, N., Blencke,
H.-M., Merzbacher, M. & Stülke,
J. (2002) Control of the glycolytic gapA operon by the catabolite
control protein A in Bacillus subtilis: a novel mechanism of
CcpA-mediated regulation. Mol. Microbiol.
45: 543-553.
Meinken, C., Blencke, H.-M., Ludwig, H. & Stülke,
J. (2003) Expression of the glycolytic gapA operon in Bacillus subtilis:
differential syntheses of proteins encoded by the operon.
Microbiology 149: 751-761.
Blencke, H.-M.,
Homuth, G., Ludwig, H., Mäder,
U., Hecker, M. & Stülke,
J. (2003) Transcriptional profiling of gene expression in response to glucose
in Bacillus subtilis:
regulation of the central metabolic pathways. Metab.
Engn. 5: 133-149.
Wacker, I., Ludwig, H., Reif, I., Blencke, H.-M., Detsch,
C. & Stülke, J. (2003) The regulatory link
between carbon and nitrogen metabolism in Bacillus
subtilis: regulation of the gltAB operon
by the catabolite control protein CcpA. Microbiology 149:
3001-3009.
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