Inhibition of bacterial luminescence by cerulenin

Conference · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986 · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5097131

Byers, D M; Wall, L A; Meighen, E A

Bacterial luminescence is very sensitive to cerulenin, a fungal inhibitor of fatty acid (FA) synthesis. Cerulenin does not inhibit luciferase itself, but rather the synthesis of its aldehyde substrate by FA reductase. The acyl-CoA reductase (58 kDa) component of the Photobacterium phosphoreum FA reductase complex was inhibited by cerulenin in vitro. Similarly, acylation of the corresponding Vibrio harveyi 57 kDa protein with (/sup 3/H)myristic acid was preferentially decreased, while cerulenin had no effect on the activities of luciferase or the acyltransferase (32 kDa) responsible for FA supply to luminescence. Light emission of wild type V. harveyi was less sensitive to cerulenin at 10 ..mu..g/ml (5-fold decrease at 1h) than that of the FA-stimulatable dark mutant M17 (100-fold inhibition), which lacks the 32 kDa acyltransferase. The V. harveyi reductase subunit was also labeled by (/sup 3/H)tetrahydrocerulenin in vivo in M17 but not wild type cells; this labeling could be prevented by preincubating M17 cells with cerulenin or FA. These results suggest that (a) cerulenin specifically and covalently inhibits the reductase component of aldehyde synthesis, and (b) this enzyme is partially protected from inhibition in vivo in the wild type cell.

• Research Organization: McGill Univ., Montreal, Quebec
• OSTI ID: 5097131
• Report Number(s): CONF-8606151-; TRN: 86-034831
• Journal Information: Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States), Vol. 45:6; Conference: 76. annual meeting of the Federation of American Society for Experimental Biology, Washington, DC, USA, 8 Jun 1986
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AMIDES
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
METABOLISM
LUCIFERASE
ENZYME ACTIVITY
PHOTOSYNTHETIC BACTERIA
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
BIOLOGICAL VARIABILITY
COVALENCE
INHIBITION
OXIDOREDUCTASES
PROTEINS
TETRADECANOIC ACID
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
ENZYMES
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LUMINESCENCE
MONOCARBOXYLIC ACIDS
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
550201* - Biochemistry- Tracer Techniques
550701 - Microbiology- Tracer Techniques