Significance of the Cgl1427 gene encoding cytidylate kinase in microaerobic growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum.

The Cgl1427 gene was previously found to be relevant to the microaerobic growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum (Ikeda et al. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 73:2806-2808, 2009). In the present work, Cgl1427 was identified as a cytidylate kinase gene (cmk) by homology analysis of its deduced amino acid sequence with that of other bacterial cytidylate kinases (CMP kinases) and on the basis of findings that deletion of Cgl1427 results in loss of CMP kinase activity.

Elucidation of genes relevant to the microaerobic growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Mutagenized cell libraries of Corynebacterium glutamicum were screened for mutants that lost the ability to grow under low oxygen concentrations. The resulting high-oxygen-requiring mutants were used to clone wild-type DNA fragments that could complement the phenotype. Sequencing and subcloning analyses identified six genes, Cgl0807, Cgl1102, Cgl0600, Cgl1427, Cgl2857, and Cgl2859, as the genes responsible for complementation.