The DNA fragment containing 598 bp from the translational start site (487 bp from the transcriptional start site) was used to construct paceA-lacZ. paceB-lacZ contained the promoter fragment 261 bp from the translational start site (78 bp from the transcriptional start site). The primers used to amplify the promoter sequences are listed in Table 1. To construct the pgluA-lacZ transcription fusion, a PCR-generated fragment of 0.25 kb upstream of the start codon of glutamate uptake operon was inserted into the lacZ fusion plasmid pRS415 digested with EcoRI and BamHI. The 4.8-kb DraI fragment of the pgluA-lacZ was then ligated into

the EcoRI- and BamHI-digested pXMJ1, which originated from the pXMJ19 digested with NarI/HindIII, yielding pGL. To determine the enzyme activities, the strains were cultivated in MB medium containing glucose or acetate. The cells were harvested in the exponential buy CP-690550 phase, washed in 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.0) and suspended selleck chemical in the same buffer containing 10 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol and 30% (v/v) glycerol. The cell suspension was mixed with glass beads (Sigma-Aldrich) and subjected to mechanical disruption using a RiboLyser (Hybaid, Heidelberg, Germany) at 4 °C. After the disruption, the glass beads and cellular debris were

removed by centrifugation (13 000 g, 4 °C, 15 min), and the supernatant was used for the assays. The protein concentration was measured using the Bradford method (BioRad). The ICL activity was assayed by monitoring the formation of glyoxylic acid phenylhydrazone from glyoxylate at 324 nm (Dixon & Kornberg, 1959). The assay mixture consisted of 1 mL of 0.1 M KH2PO4 (pH 7.5) containing 5 mM MgCl2, 3 mM phenylhydrazine, 2 mM cysteine and 2 mM isocitrate. One unit Sclareol of ICL activity

corresponds to the formation of 1 μmol of glyoxylate per min at 30 °C. Meanwhile, the MS activity was assayed following the increase of TNB (1,3,5-trinitrobenzene) at 412 nm in 1 mL of 50 mM Tris (pH 7.4) containing 5 mM MgCl2, 2 mM glyoxylate, 0.1 mM acetyl CoA and 20 μg of DTNB (5,5′-dithio-bis-2-nitrobenzoic acid), as described previously (Dixon & Kornberg, 1959). One unit of MS activity corresponds to the production of 1 μmol of malate per min at 30 °C. The β-galactosidase activity in the strains harbouring the paceA/paceB-lacZ fusion plasmids was determined in permeabilized cells using the Miller method (Miller, 1972) with the modifications described by Shimotsu & Henner (1986) and expressed as Miller units. Whereas C. glutamicum GlxR shares only 27% amino acid sequence identity with the CRP of E. coli, it shows a high similarity to the CRP from the high GC Gram-positive bacteria M. tuberculosis and S. coelicolor, sharing 78% and 53% identity, respectively (Kim et al., 2004). cAMP has been reported to be essential for the interaction of GlxR with target genes such as aceB and aceA in vitro (Kim et al., 2004; Kohl et al., 2008).