Conserved residues in the aromatic acid/H+ symporter family are important for benzoate uptake by NCgl2325 in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Corynebacterium glutamicum is a model organism for genetic and physiological studies in Gram-positive bacteria. NCgl2325 in C. glutamicum, a transporter belonging to the aromatic acid/H+ symporter family, has previously been reported to be involved in benzoate assimilation. Here, we showed that this transporter, fused with GFP, was associated with the cell membrane in Escherichia coli and C. glutamicum. Uptake assays with [14C]-labeled benzoate demonstrated that NCgl2325 transported benzoate into the cells at a Vmax of 0.19 ± 0.01 nmol/min/mg of dry weight, and the Km value was determined to be 1.11 ± 0.24 μM. Among the competing substrates tested, hydroxyl-substituted benzoates resulted in significant inhibition (>50%) of benzoate uptake. Site-directed mutagenesis of conserved residues in the hydrophilic cytoplasmic loops (Gly-80, Asp-84 and Asp-312) and the hydrophobic transmembrane regions (Asp-35, Arg-119, Glu-139 and Arg-386) resulted in loss of benzoate transport activity. This is the first study to investigate the molecular basis of benzoate transport.