scholarly journals The global, ppGpp-mediated stringent response to amino acid starvation in Escherichia coli

2008 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 1128-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew F. Traxler ◽  
Sean M. Summers ◽  
Huyen-Tran Nguyen ◽  
Vineetha M. Zacharia ◽  
G. Aaron Hightower ◽  
...  
1984 ◽  
Vol 219 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
S H Goldemberg

Escherichia coli BGA8, a mutant unable to synthesize putrescine, behaves as stringent or relaxed according to the presence or absence of polyamine, respectively, in the culture medium. The relaxed synthesis of RNA can be reverted back to stringent by addition of putrescine or spermidine. The stringent response depends on the concentration of the polyamine in the culture medium. The formation of guanosine 3′-diphosphate 5′-diphosphate elicited by amino acid starvation is stimulated at least 40-fold in putrescine-supplemented bacteria and only about 2-fold in putrescine-depleted cells.


1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (8) ◽  
pp. 2186-2193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narayana N. Rao ◽  
Shengjiang Liu ◽  
Arthur Kornberg

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli transiently accumulates large amounts of inorganic polyphosphate (polyP), up to 20 mM in phosphate residues (Pi), in media deficient in both Pi and amino acids. This transient accumulation is preceded by the appearance of nucleotides ppGpp and pppGpp, generated in response to nutritional stresses. Mutants which lack PhoB, the response regulator of the phosphate regulon, do not accumulate polyP even though they develop wild-type levels of (p)ppGpp when subjected to amino acid starvation. When complemented with a phoB-containing plasmid,phoB mutants regain the ability to accumulate polyP. PolyP accumulation requires high levels of (p)ppGpp independent of whether they are generated by RelA (active during the stringent response) or SpoT (expressed during Pi starvation). Hence, accumulation of polyP requires a functional phoB gene and elevated levels of (p)ppGpp. A rapid assay of polyP depends on its adsorption to an anion-exchange disk on which it is hydrolyzed by a yeast exopolyphosphatase.


2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (19) ◽  
pp. 5765-5771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Yang ◽  
Edward E. Ishiguro

ABSTRACT The relA gene of Escherichia coli encodes guanosine 3′,5′-bispyrophosphate (ppGpp) synthetase I, a ribosome-associated enzyme that is activated during amino acid starvation. The stringent response is thought to be mediated by ppGpp. Mutations in relA are known to result in pleiotropic phenotypes. We now report that three different relA mutant alleles, relA1, relA2, and relA251::kan, conferred temperature-sensitive phenotypes, as demonstrated by reduced plating efficiencies on nutrient agar (Difco) or on Davis minimal agar (Difco) at temperatures above 41°C. The relA-mediated temperature sensitivity was osmoremedial and could be completely suppressed, for example, by the addition of NaCl to the medium at a concentration of 0.3 M. The temperature sensitivities of the relA mutants were associated with decreased thermotolerance; e.g., relA mutants lost viability at 42°C, a temperature that is normally nonlethal. The spoT gene encodes a bifunctional enzyme possessing ppGpp synthetase and ppGpp pyrophosphohydrolase activities. The introduction of the spoT207::cat allele into a strain bearing the relA251::kan mutation completely abolished ppGpp synthesis. This ppGpp null mutant was even more temperature sensitive than the strain carrying the relA251::kan mutation alone. The relA-mediated thermosensitivity was suppressed by certain mutant alleles of rpoB (encoding the β subunit of RNA polymerase) and spoT that have been previously reported to suppress other phenotypic characteristics conferred by relA mutations. Collectively, these results suggest that ppGpp may be required in some way for the expression of genes involved in thermotolerance.


1989 ◽  
Vol 44 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 838-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Mach ◽  
M. Hecker ◽  
I. Hill ◽  
A. Schroeter ◽  
F. Mach

The viability of three isogenic relA+/relA strain pairs of Escherichia coli (CP78/CP79; NF 161/ NF162; CP 107/CP 143) was studied during prolonged starvation for amino acids, glucose or phosphate. After amino acid limitation we found a prolonged viability of all relA+ strains which synthesized ppGpp. We suggest that some ppGpp-mediated pleiotropic effects of the stringent response (e.g. glykogen accumulation, enhanced protein turnover) might be involved in this prolongation of survival. After glucose or phosphate starvation there was no difference in the relA+/relA strains either in the ppGpp content or in the survival.


1978 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Roche ◽  
A. J. Cozzone ◽  
P. Donini ◽  
V. Santonastaso

1995 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Szalewska-Pałasz ◽  
G Wegrzyn

Replication of lambda plasmid DNA is halted in amino acid-starved wild type (stringent) strains whereas it proceeds in relA (relaxed) mutants. The only transcription which could be important in lambda plasmid DNA replication in amino acid-starved Escherichia coli cells is that starting from the pR promoter. Using a fusion which consists of the lacZ gene under the control of bacteriophage lambda pR promoter we found that transcription starting from this promoter was inhibited during the stringent, but not the relaxed, response in E. coli. We confirmed our conclusion by estimating the relative level of the pR transcript by RNA-DNA hybridization. We propose that decreased transcription from the pR promoter which serves as transcriptional activation of ori lambda is responsible for inhibition of lambda plasmid replication during the stringent response. The results presented in this paper, combined with our recent findings (published elsewhere), indicate that the transcriptional activation of ori lambda may be a main regulatory process controlling lambda DNA replication not only during the relaxed response but also in normal growth conditions.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (2) ◽  
pp. 570-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Gropp ◽  
Yael Strausz ◽  
Miriam Gross ◽  
Gad Glaser

ABSTRACT The E. coli RelA protein is a ribosome-dependent (p)ppGpp synthetase that is activated in response to amino acid starvation. RelA can be dissected both functionally and physically into two domains: The N-terminal domain (NTD) (amino acids [aa] 1 to 455) contains the catalytic domain of RelA, and the C-terminal domain (CTD) (aa 455 to 744) is involved in regulating RelA activity. We used mutational analysis to localize sites important for RelA activity and control in these two domains. We inserted two separate mutations into the NTD, which resulted in mutated RelA proteins that were impaired in their ability to synthesize (p)ppGpp. When we caused the CTD inrelA + cells to be overexpressed, (p)ppGpp accumulation during amino acid starvation was negatively affected. Mutational analysis showed that Cys-612, Asp-637, and Cys-638, found in a conserved amino acid sequence (aa 612 to 638), are essential for this negative effect of the CTD. When mutations corresponding to these residues were inserted into the full-length relA gene, the mutated RelA proteins were impaired in their regulation. In attempting to clarify the mechanism through which the CTD regulates RelA activity, we found no evidence for competition for ribosomal binding between the normal RelA and the overexpressed CTD. Results from CyaA complementation experiments of the bacterial two-hybrid system fusion plasmids (G. Karimova, J. Pidoux, A. Ullmann, and D. Ladant, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:5752–5756, 1998) indicated that the CTD (aa 564 to 744) is involved in RelA-RelA interactions. Our findings support a model in which RelA activation is regulated by its oligomerization state.


1965 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. R. Reeve ◽  
J. O. Bishop

A multi-step Chloramphenicol (CM)-resistant derivative of an RC-stringent strain of Escherichia coli auxotrophic for threonine and leucine was resistant also to Aureomycin (AM) and Puromycin (PM). All three antibiotics released the repression of RNA synthesis due to amino acid starvation in the CM-sensitive parent strain, their relative activities being about 1:10:100 for AM: CM: PM. High doses of AM and CM failed to induce RNA synthesis. The CM-resistant strain required greater concentrations of each antibiotic than the sensitive strain to induce the same level of RNA synthesis, and appeared to be about one hundred times, ten times and five times more resistant to CM, AM and PM, respectively, than the sensitive strain.


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