A ptsH mutation suppresses growth defects and antibiotic sensitivity in a cpgA mutant defective in metabolite proofreading

ABSTRACT Bacillus subtilis CpgA (circularly permuted GTPase) is a ribosome assembly GTPase that has a secondary function as a metabolite proofreading enzyme. CpgA hydrolyzes 4-phosphoerythronate, a toxic metabolite produced from erythrose-4-phosphate by glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). In a ∆cpgA strain, carbon sources that feed into the pentose phosphate pathway trigger metabolic intoxication. This results in poor growth and increased sensitivity to antibiotics that block peptidoglycan synthesis, a process reliant on sugars from central metabolism. Here, we describe a mutation in ptsH (ptsH-G54D) that improves growth of a ∆cpgA strain on media containing both glucose and gluconate. The ptsH gene encodes the histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein (HPr) that functions in phosphotransferase system sugar import and gene regulation. Prior studies of HPr suggested three possible mechanisms to account for the ability of HPr-G54D to increase fitness of the ∆cpgA strain: (i) restricting HPr-dependent uptake of glucose, (ii) reducing the GAPDH-dependent production of 4-phosphoerythronate, or (iii) decreasing expression of genes required for uptake and catabolism of gluconate. Here, we present evidence consistent with the third model: HPr-G54D improves fitness of a ∆cpgA strain by increasing catabolite repression of the gluconate operon. Consistently, genetic suppression by HPr-G54D requires Ser46, a site of regulatory phosphorylation important for carbon catabolite repression. In addition, we demonstrate that the metabolic proofreading function of CpgA is conserved among related gram-positive bacteria.IMPORTANCEMetabolism relies on the concerted action of hundreds of enzymes, many of which have some activity with non-canonical substrates. The resulting reactions constitute an often-ignored underground metabolism. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase catalyzes a secondary reaction that produces 4-phosphoerythronate, a toxic dead-end metabolite. Bacillus subtilis CpgA is a widely conserved metabolite proofreading enzyme that protects cells against metabolic intoxication, which can increase antibiotic sensitivity. Loss of CpgA can be suppressed by an altered function mutation affecting the histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein (HPr). This mutant HPr protein increases carbon catabolite repression to restrict import of intoxicating gluconate. These studies highlight the ability of mutations in HPr to rewire carbon catabolism to help avoid the toxic effects of metabolic dysregulation.