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Polyamines pp 47–59Cite as

Polyamine Catabolism in Prokaryotes

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Abstract

Polyamines play important roles in cell growth and proliferation. In particular, these biogenic compounds are involved in the regulation of transcription and translation processes required for bacterial proliferation. Consequently, intracellular polyamine content is strictly regulated at several levels, including biosynthesis, degradation, and uptake from and excretion into the environment. In this chapter, we discuss polyamine catabolism in prokaryotes, focusing on the well-studied polyamine catabolism pathway in Escherichia coli. E. coli catabolizes putrescine to succinate via γ-aminobutyraldehyde (GABA) through the aminotransferase pathway or the γ-glutamylate pathway (the Puu pathway). Excess spermidine is acetylated to yield acetylspermidine, but whether this metabolite is then excreted from cells, as it is in eukaryotes, is not clear. Pseudomonas aeruginosa POA1, in contrast to E. coli, has expanded catabolic pathways to salvage cadaverine and spermidine as carbon and nitrogen sources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Applied Biology, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto, 606-8585, Japan

    Hideyuki Suzuki

  2. Host-Microbe Interaction Research Laboratory, Ishikawa Prefectural University, Nonoichi, Ishikawa, 921-8836, Japan

    Shin Kurihara

Authors
  1. Hideyuki Suzuki
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  2. Shin Kurihara
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Correspondence to Hideyuki Suzuki .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba, Sendai-city, Miyagi, Japan

    Tomonobu Kusano

  2. Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Goshokaido-cho, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Hideyuki Suzuki

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Suzuki, H., Kurihara, S. (2015). Polyamine Catabolism in Prokaryotes. In: Kusano, T., Suzuki, H. (eds) Polyamines. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55212-3_4

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