The role of l-alanine metabolism revealed by transcriptome analysis in Vibrio alginolyticus

Alanine plays an important role in linking carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism through reversible transaminase reactions, therefore regulation of alanine metabolism pathway is a switch of intracellular carbon and nitrogen flow. However, little is known about the alanine metabolism regulation in Vibrio. In this study, the global gene expression patterns of Vibrio alginolyticus ZJ-T cultured in M63 minimal medium supplemented with l-alanine or with ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) as the sole nitrogen source were evaluated by transcriptome analysis. The results indicated that 325 and 338 genes are up- and down-regulated (|log2(Fold Change)| > 1), respectively, most of which are involved in amino acid metabolism and carbon metabolism pathways. Specially, ald that encodes alanine dehydrogenase is significantly up-regulated by 2.84 folds. This study will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the role of l-alanine metabolism in the Vibrios.