| Full text | |
| Author(s): |
Pulschen, Andre A.
;
Sastre, Diego E.
;
Machinandiarena, Federico
;
Asis, Agostina Crotta
;
Albanesi, Daniela
;
de Mendoza, Diego
;
Gueiros-Filho, Frederico J.
Total Authors: 7
|
| Document type: | Journal article |
| Source: | Molecular Microbiology; v. 103, n. 4, p. 698-712, FEB 2017. |
| Web of Science Citations: | 8 |
| Abstract | |
The stringent response is a universal adaptive mechanism to protect bacteria from nutritional and environmental stresses. The role of the stringent response during lipid starvation has been studied only in Gram-negative bacteria. Here, we report that the stringent response also plays a crucial role in the adaptation of the model Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis to fatty acid starvation. B. subtilis lacking all three (p) ppGpp-synthetases (Rel(Bs), RelP and RelQ) or bearing a RelBs variant that no longer synthesizes (p) ppGpp suffer extreme loss of viability on lipid starvation. Loss of viability is paralleled by perturbation of membrane integrity and function, with collapse of membrane potential as the likely cause of death. Although no increment of (p) ppGpp could be detected in lipid starved B. subtilis, we observed a substantial increase in the GTP/ATP ratio of strains incapable of synthesizing (p) ppGpp. Artificially lowering GTP with decoyinine rescued viability of such strains, confirming observations that low intracellular GTP is important for survival of nutritional stresses. Altogether, our results show that activation of the stringent response by lipid starvation is a broadly conserved response of bacteria and that a key role of (p) ppGpp is to couple biosynthetic processes that become detrimental if uncoordinated. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 14/26528-4 - Studies with B.subtilis stringent response and search for small molecules capable of modulating RelA protein |
| Grantee: | André Arashiro Pulschen |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct) |
| FAPESP's process: | 14/13411-1 - Study of acyltransferases required for the synthesis of membrane phospholipids in Gram-positive bacteria: an attractive target for antibacterial drug discovery |
| Grantee: | Diego Emiliano Sastre |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral |