Abstract
Amino acid-starved cells of Escherichia coli relA +, which contain a large number of glycogen particles, are able to survive in phosphate buffer for a longer time period than their relaxed counterparts. With regard to NH +4 starvation differences in the survival of both strains were not found. NH +4 starved cells of E. coli relA are able to synthesize glycogen but amino acid-starved cells of the relA strain are not. We suggest that the synthesis of glycogen triggered by guanosine tetraphosphate during amino acid starvation is responsible for the prolonged viability of the E. coli relA + strain.
Abbreviations
- ppGpp:
-
guanosine tetraphosphate
References
Boylen C, Ensign JC (1970) Intracellular substrates for endogenous metabolism during long-term starvation of rod and spherical cells of Arthrobacter crystallopoietes. J Bacteriol 103:578–587
Bridger WA, Paranchych W (1979) Guanosine tetraphosphate: coordinate of metabolic response to nitrogen starvation in enterobacteria. TIBS 4:176–179
Dawes EA (1976) Endogenous metabolism and the survival of starved prokaryotes. In: Gray TRG, Postgate JR (eds) The survival of vegetative microbes. 26. Symp Soc Gen Microbiol. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, pp 19–53
Gallant JA (1979) Stringent control in E. coli. Ann Rev Genet 13:393–416
Harder W, Dijkhuizen L, Veldkamp H (1984) Environmental regulation of microbial metabolism. In: Kelly DP, Carr NG (eds) The microbe 1984. 36. Symp Soc Gen Microbiol. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp 51–95
Mitchell JJ, Lucas-Lenard JM (1980) The effects of alcohols an guanosine-5′-diphosphate-3′-diphosphate metabolism in stringent and relaxed E. coli. J Biol Chem 255:6307–6313
Poindexter JS (1981) Oligotrophy. Fast and famine existence. Adv Microbiol Ecol 5:63–89
Preiss J (1984) Bacterial glycogen synthesis and its regulation. Ann Rev Microbiol 38:419–458
Reeve CA, Bockman AT, Matin A (1984) Role of protein degradation in the survival of carbon-starved Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol 157:758–763
Ryter A, Kellenberger E (1958) Étude au microscope électronique de plasmas contenant de l'acide deóxyribonucléique. I. Les nucléoides des bactéries en croissance active. Z Naturforsch 13b:597–605
Sato T (1968) A modified method for lead staining of thin sections. J Electr Microscopy 17:158–159
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hecker, M., Schroeter, A., Träder, K. et al. Role of relA mutation in the survival of amino acid-starved Escherichia coli . Arch. Microbiol. 143, 400–402 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00412809
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00412809