crpX mutants of Escherichia coli K12: specific regulatory effects of altered cyclic AMP receptor proteins.

We attempted to correlate structural modifications of the adenosine 3',5' cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) receptor protein (CAP), to changes in some of its in vivo regulatory functions such as (i) stimulation of the lactose operon expression and (ii) control of adenylate cyclase activity. A radioimmunological procedure was used to study the structure of CAP synthesized by three mutants (crpX) grown under various conditions, in the presence or absence of endogenous or exogenous cAMP. In one mutant CAP appears to be sensitive to thermal inactivation. In another mutant CAP is particularly sensitive to degradation in the absence of cAMP; this degradation is enhanced by high temperature and during stationary phase of growth, and prevented by the addition of glucose. Functional alterations of CAP were not found to follow structural changes strictly. In the crpX mutants and in strains carrying the crp+ or other crp allele, the stimulation of the lactose operon expression and the modulation of the in vivo rates of cAMP synthesis appear to vary in parallel, favoring an indirect mechanism of regulation of adenylate cyclase by CAP.