Cyclic AMP inhibits and putrescine represses expression of the speA gene encoding biosynthetic arginine decarboxylase in Escherichia coli.

The speA gene of Escherichia coli encodes biosynthetic arginine decarboxylase (ADC), the first of two enzymes in a putrescine biosynthetic pathway. The activity of ADC is negatively regulated by mechanisms requiring cyclic AMP (cAMP) and cAMP receptor protein (CRP) or putrescine. A 2.1-kb BamHI fragment containing the speA-metK intergenic region, speA promoter, and 1,389 bp of the 5' end of the speA coding sequence was used to construct transcriptional and translational speA-lacZ fusion plasmids. A single copy of either type of speA-lacZ fusion was transferred into the chromosomes of Escherichia coli KC14-1, CB806, and MC4100, using bacteriophage lambda. The speA gene in lysogenized strains remained intact and served as a control. Addition of 5 mM cAMP to lysogenic strains resulted in 10 to 37% inhibition of ADC activity, depending on the strain used. In contrast, the addition of 5 or 10 mM cAMP to these strains did not inhibit the activity of beta-galactosidase (i.e., ADC::beta-galactosidase). Addition of 10 mM putrescine to lysogenized strains resulted in 24 to 31% repression of ADC activity and 41 to 47% repression of beta-galactosidase activity. E. coli strains grown in 5 mM cAMP and 10 mM putrescine produced 46 to 61% less ADC activity and 41 to 52% less beta-galactosidase activity. cAMP (0.1 to 10 mM) did not inhibit ADC activity assayed in vitro. The effects of cAMP and putrescine on ADC activity were additive, indicating the use of independent regulatory mechanisms. These results show that cAMP acts indirectly to inhibit ADC activity and that putrescine causes repression of speA transcription.