Regulation of C4-dicarboxylic acid transport in Bacillus subtilis.

Various mutant strains of Bacillus subtilis were used to study the induction and regulation of the transport of tricarboxylic acid cycle C4-dicarboxylates. L-Malate was the only physiological inducer and bromosuccinate was a gratuitous inducer of dicarboxylic acid transport in a succinic dehydrogenase deficient mutant. Several mutants were isolated with alterations in the ability to transport dicarboxylic acids. One of these (WK6) was defective in the ability to take up succinate when grown on glutamate minimal medium, whereas another (WK1) was inducible to high levels by extremely low levels of L-malate. Alpha-Ketoglutarate dehydrogenase mutants were unable to take up dicarboxylates because of repression of transport by glutamate and (or) alpha-ketoglutarate. A mutation which resulted in increased levels of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase partially overcame this inhibition. Glutamate did not prevent the induction of dicarboxylic acid transport by L-malate in succinic dehydrogenase mutants but was markedly inhibitory in alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase mutants.