Cloning and Expression of the Gene Encoding Glucose Permease of the Phosphotransferase System from Brevibacterium flavum in Escherichia coli

A Brevibacterium flavum gene coding for glucose permease of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) was cloned by complementing the Escherichia coli ZSCl13 mutations affecting a ptsG gene with the B. flavum genomic library. From the E. coli clone grown as red colony on a MacConkey plate supplemented with glucose as an additional carbon source, a recombinant plasmid was isolated and named pBFT93. The plasmid pBFT93 was identified as carrying a 3.6-kb fragment of B. flavum chromosomal DNA which enables the E. coli transformant to use glucose or man nose as a sole carbon source in an M9 minimal medium. The non-metabolizable sugar analogues, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) and methyl-$\alpha$-D-glucopyranoside (MeGlc) affected the growth of ZSCl13 cells carrying the plasmid pBFT93 on minimal medium supplemented with non-PTS carbohydrate, glycerol, as a sole cabon source, while the analogues did not repress the growth of ZSCl13 cells without pBFT93. It was also found that both $2-deoxy-D-[U-^{14}C]glucose{\;}and{\;}methyl-{\alpha}-D-[U-^{14}C]glucopyranoside$ could be effectively transported into ZSCl13 cells transformed with plasmid pBFT93. Several in vivo complementation studies suggested that the B. flavum DNA in pBFT93 encodes a glucose permease specific for glucose and mannose.