The urease enzymes of and a related bacterium Free

Abstract

SUMMARY

The urease enzyme of was studied and compared with that of a related spiral-shaped bacterium, St1, isolated from the rodent ileum. Both bacteria possessed constitutive urease enzymes with activities up to 20-70 times that of . This activity was retained on SDS-polyacrylamide gels. Amajor catalytic subunit of mol. wt 300 000 was located for all (six) strains of subjectedto SDS-PAGE whereas St1 had two active forms of mol. wts 140 000 and 150 000. Western-blot analysis indicated the presence of anti-urease antibodies in the sera of patients with -associated gastritis. The response to urease was not strain-specific but no cross-reactivity was detected between the enzyme and that of St1. The very high urease activity of these bacteria is likely to be important in colonisation of the host. Possession of glutamate dehydrogenase activity by both organisms suggests that one role of the urease may be to assimilate the available urea nitrogen. Modification of the local environment to facilitate long-term colonisation is another possible function. Protection from acid is unlikely to be a primary role as the natural habitat of the organism St1 is the non-acid-secreting tissue of the small intestine.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-27-1-33
1988-09-01
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/jmm/27/1/medmicro-27-1-33.html?itemId=/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-27-1-33&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Bergey’s Manual of systematic bacteriology 9th Krieg N. R., Holt J. G. (eds) Williams and Wilkins; Baltimore:
  2. Braude A. I., Siemienski J. 1960; Role of bacterial urease in experimental pyelonephritis. Journal of Bacteriology 80:171–179
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bryant M. P. 1974; Nutritional features and ecology of predominant anaerobic bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 27:1313–1319
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Cheng K. J., Wallace R. J. 1979; The mechanism of passage of endogenous urea through the rumen wall and the role of ureolytic epithelial bacteria in the urea flux. British Journal of Nutrition 42:553–557
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Delisie G. J. 1977; Multiple forms of urease in cytoplasmic fractions of Ureaplasma urealyticum. Journal of Bacteriology 130:1390–1392
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Fishbein W. N., Spears C. L., Scurzi W. 1969; Spectrum of urease isozymes: genetic, polymeric and conformeric. Nature 223:191–193
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Fitzgerald O. F., Murphy P. M. 1950; Studies on the physiological chemistry and clinical significance of urease and urea with special reference to the stomach. Irish Journal of Medical Science 292:97–159
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Friedrich B., Magasanik B. 1977; Urease of Klebsiella aerogenes: control of its synthesis by glutamine synthetase. Journal of Bacteriology 131:446–452
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Goodwin C. S., Armstrong J. A., Marshall B. J. 1986; Campylobacter pyloridis, gastritis, and peptic ulceration. Journal of Clinical Pathology 39:353–365
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Griffith D. P., Musher D. M. 1973; Prevention of infected urinary stones by urease inhibition. Investigative Urology 11:228–233
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Hazell S. L., Lee A. 1986; Campylobacter pyloridis, urease, hydrogen ion back diffusion, and gastric ulcers. Lancet 2:15–17
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Hazell S. L., Lee A., Brady L., Hennessy W. 1986; Campylobacter pyloridis and gastritis: association with intercellular spaces and adaptation to an environment of mucus as important factors in colonization of the gastric epithelium. Journal of Infectious Diseases 153:658–663
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Hazell S. L., Borody T. J., Gal A., Lee A. 1987; Campylobacter pyloridis gastritis I: Detection of urease as a marker of bacterial colonization and gastritis. American Journal of Gastroenterology 82:292–296
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Hespell R. B., Smith C. J. 1983; Utilization of nitrogen sources by gastrointestinal tract bacteria. In Hentges D. J. (ed) Human intestinal microflora in health and disease Academic Press; New York: p 167
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Kaltwasser H. K., Schlegel H. G. S. 1966; NADH-dependent coupled enzyme assay for urease and other ammonia-producing systems. Analytical Biochemistry 16:132–138
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Kaltwasser H., Kramer J., Conger W. R. 1972; Control of urease formation in certain aerobic bacteria. Archiv fur Mikrobiologie 81:178–196
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Kleiner D., Phillips S., Fitzke E. 1981; Pathways and regulation aspects of nitrogen and ammonium assimilation and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In Bothe H., Trebst A. (eds) Biology of inorganic nitrogen and sulphur metabolism Springer; New York: pp 131–140
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Kornberg H. L., Davies R. E., Wood D. R. 1954a; The breakdown of urea in cats not secreting gastric juice. Biochemistry Journal 56:355–363
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Kornberg H. L., Davies R. E., Wood D. R. 1954b; The activity and function of gastric urease in the cat. Biochemistry Journal 56:363–372
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Laemmli U. K. 1970; Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 111:680–685
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Lee A., Phillips M. 1978; Isolation and cultivation of spirochaetes and other spiral-shaped bacteria associated with the cecal mucosa of rats and mice. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 35:610–613
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Marshall B. J., Warren J. R. 1984; Unidentified curved bacilli in the stomach of patients with gastritis and peptic ulceration. Lancet 1:1311–1314
    [Google Scholar]
  23. McNulty Dent J. C. 1987; Rapid identification of Campylobacter pylori (C. pyloridis) by preformed enzymes. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 25:1683–1686
    [Google Scholar]
  24. McNulty Watson D. M. 1984; Spiral bacteria of the gastric antrum. Lancet 1:1068–1069
    [Google Scholar]
  25. McNulty C. A. M., Wise R. 1985; Rapid diagnosis of Campylobacter- associated gastritis. Lancet 1:1443–1444
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Musher D. M., Griffith D. P., Yawn D., Rossen R. D. 1975; Role of urease in pyelonephritis resulting from urinary tract infection with Proteus. Journal of Infectious Diseases 131:177–181
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Phillips M. W., Lee A. 1983; Isolation and characterization of a spiral bacterium from the crypts of rodent gastrointestinal tracts. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 45:675–683
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Powell D. W. 1981; Barrier function of epithelia. American Journal of Physiology 241:G275–288
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Rathbone B. J., Wyatt J. I., Heatley R. V. 1986; Campylobacter pyloridis—a new factor in peptic ulcer disease?. Gut 27:635–641
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Rollason T. P., Stone J., Rhodes J. M. 1984; Spiral organisms in endoscopic biopsies of the human stomach. Journal of Clinical Pathology 37:23–26
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Savage D. C. 1983; Mechanisms by which indigenous microorganisms colonize gastrointestinal epithelial surfaces. Progress in Food Nutrition Science 7:65–74
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Senior B. W., Bradford N. C., Simpson D. S. 1980; The ureases of Proteus strains in relation to virulence for the urinary tract. Journal of Medical Microbiology 13:507–512
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Smith C. J., Hespell R. B., Bryant M. P. 1981; Regulation of urease and ammonia assimilatory enzymes in Selenomonas rumi-nantium. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 42:89–96
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Smith G. W., Jones C., Wiggins P. M., Lee S. P. 1985; Pig gastric mucus: a one-way barrier for H +. Gastroenterology 89:1313–1318
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Sumner J. B. 1926; The isolation and crystallization of the enzyme urease. Journal of Biological Chemistry 69:435–441
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. 1979; Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 76:4350–4354
    [Google Scholar]
  37. VonKorff R. W., Glick D. 1951; Role of urease in the gastric mucosa. II: In vitro studies with isotopic urea on frog mucosa. American Journal of Physiology 165:688–694
    [Google Scholar]
  38. VonKorff R. W., Ferguson D. J., Glick D. 1951; Role of urease in the gastric mucosa. III. Plasma urea as source of ammonium ion in gastric juice of histamine-stimulated dog. American Journal of Physiology 165:695–700
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Wallace R. J., Cheng K. J., Dinsdale D., Orskov E. R. 1979; An independent microbial flora of the epithelium and its role in the ecomicrobiology of the rumen. Nature 279:424–426
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Williams S. E., Turnberg L. A. 1980; Retardation of acid diffusion by pig gastric mucus: a potential role in mucosal protection. Gastroenterology 79:299–304
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Williams S. E., Turnberg L. A. 1981; Demonstration of a pH gradient across mucus adherent to rabbit gastric mucosa: evidence of a “mucus-bicarbonate” barrier. Gut 22:94–96
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Wozny M. A., Bryant M. P., Holdeman L. V., Moore W. E. C. 1977; Urease assay and urease-producing species of anaerobes in the bovine rumen and human feces. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 33:1097–1104
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-27-1-33
Loading
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-27-1-33
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Most cited Most Cited RSS feed