Quantitation of RNA polymerase subunits in Escherichia coli during exponential growth and after bacteriophage T4 infection

1976 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frode Engbaek ◽  
Carol Gross ◽  
Richard R. Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Bacteriophage T4 ◽  
Rna Polymerase Subunits

scholarly journals Biophysical Properties of Escherichia coli Cytoplasm in Stationary Phase by Superresolution Fluorescence Microscopy

mBio ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanyu Zhu ◽  
Mainak Mustafi ◽  
James C. Weisshaar
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Fluorescence Microscopy ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Stationary Phase ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Mean Square Displacement ◽  
Quiescent State ◽  
Chromosomal Dna ◽  
Content Type ◽  
E Coli

ABSTRACT In nature, bacteria must survive long periods of nutrient deprivation while maintaining the ability to recover and grow when conditions improve. This quiescent state is called stationary phase. The biochemistry of Escherichia coli in stationary phase is reasonably well understood. Much less is known about the biophysical state of the cytoplasm. Earlier studies of harvested nucleoids concluded that the stationary-phase nucleoid is “compacted” or “supercompacted,” and there are suggestions that the cytoplasm is “glass-like.” Nevertheless, stationary-phase bacteria support active transcription and translation. Here, we present results of a quantitative superresolution fluorescence study comparing the spatial distributions and diffusive properties of key components of the transcription-translation machinery in intact E. coli cells that were either maintained in 2-day stationary phase or undergoing moderately fast exponential growth. Stationary-phase cells are shorter and exhibit strong heterogeneity in cell length, nucleoid volume, and biopolymer diffusive properties. As in exponential growth, the nucleoid and ribosomes are strongly segregated. The chromosomal DNA is locally more rigid in stationary phase. The population-weighted average of diffusion coefficients estimated from mean-square displacement plots is 2-fold higher in stationary phase for both RNA polymerase (RNAP) and ribosomal species. The average DNA density is roughly twice as high as that in cells undergoing slow exponential growth. The data indicate that the stationary-phase nucleoid is permeable to RNAP and suggest that it is permeable to ribosomal subunits. There appears to be no need to postulate migration of actively transcribed genes to the nucleoid periphery. IMPORTANCE Bacteria in nature usually lack sufficient nutrients to enable growth and replication. Such starved bacteria adapt into a quiescent state known as the stationary phase. The chromosomal DNA is protected against oxidative damage, and ribosomes are stored in a dimeric structure impervious to digestion. Stationary-phase bacteria can recover and grow quickly when better nutrient conditions arise. The biochemistry of stationary-phase E. coli is reasonably well understood. Here, we present results from a study of the biophysical state of starved E. coli. Superresolution fluorescence microscopy enables high-resolution location and tracking of a DNA locus and of single copies of RNA polymerase (the transcription machine) and ribosomes (the translation machine) in intact E. coli cells maintained in stationary phase. Evidently, the chromosomal DNA remains sufficiently permeable to enable transcription and translation to occur. This description contrasts with the usual picture of a rigid stationary-phase cytoplasm with highly condensed DNA.

scholarly journals The Bacteriophage T4 Inhibitor and Coactivator AsiA Inhibits Escherichia coli RNA Polymerase More Rapidly in the Absence of σ70 Region 1.1: Evidence that Region 1.1 Stabilizes the Interaction between σ70 and Core

2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (4) ◽  
pp. 1279-1285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah M. Hinton ◽  
Srilatha Vuthoori ◽  
Rebecca Mulamba
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Dna Binding ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Dynamic Equilibrium ◽  
Bacteriophage T4 ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Binding Properties ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Dna Binding Properties ◽  
Two Hybrid

ABSTRACT The N-terminal region (region 1.1) of σ70, the primary σ subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase, is a negatively charged domain that affects the DNA binding properties of σ70 regions 2 and 4. Region 1.1 prevents the interaction of free σ70 with DNA and modulates the formation of stable (open) polymerase/promoter complexes at certain promoters. The bacteriophage T4 AsiA protein is an inhibitor of σ70-dependent transcription from promoters that require an interaction between σ70 region 4 and the −35 DNA element and is the coactivator of transcription at T4 MotA-dependent promoters. Like AsiA, the T4 activator MotA also interacts with σ70 region 4. We have investigated the effect of region 1.1 on AsiA inhibition and MotA/AsiA activation. We show that σ70 region 1.1 is not required for MotA/AsiA activation at the T4 middle promoter P uvsX . However, the rate of AsiA inhibition and of MotA/AsiA activation of polymerase is significantly increased when region 1.1 is missing. We also find that RNA polymerase reconstituted with σ70 that lacks region 1.1 is less stable than polymerase with full-length σ70. Our previous work has demonstrated that the AsiA-inhibited polymerase is formed when AsiA binds to region 4 of free σ70 and then the AsiA/σ70 complex binds to core. Our results suggest that in the absence of region 1.1, there is a shift in the dynamic equilibrium between polymerase holoenzyme and free σ70 plus core, yielding more free σ70 at any given time. Thus, the rate of AsiA inhibition and AsiA/MotA activation increases when RNA polymerase lacks region 1.1 because of the increased availability of free σ70. Previous work has argued both for and against a direct interaction between regions 1.1 and 4. Using an E. coli two-hybrid assay, we do not detect an interaction between these regions. This result supports the idea that the ability of region 1.1 to prevent DNA binding by free σ70 arises through an indirect effect.

Transcriptional takeover by σ appropriation: remodelling of the σ 70 subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase by the bacteriophage T4 activator MotA and co-activator AsiA

Microbiology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 151 (6) ◽  
pp. 1729-1740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah M. Hinton ◽  
Suchira Pande ◽  
Neelowfar Wais ◽  
Xanthia B. Johnson ◽  
Madhavi Vuthoori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Bacteriophage T4 ◽  
Good Match ◽  
Promoter Sequences ◽  
Recognition Element ◽  
Upstream Promoter ◽  
Promoter Specificity ◽  
Promoter Dna

Activation of bacteriophage T4 middle promoters, which occurs about 1 min after infection, uses two phage-encoded factors that change the promoter specificity of the host RNA polymerase. These phage factors, the MotA activator and the AsiA co-activator, interact with the σ 70 specificity subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase, which normally contacts the −10 and −35 regions of host promoter DNA. Like host promoters, T4 middle promoters have a good match to the canonical σ 70 DNA element located in the −10 region. However, instead of the σ 70 DNA recognition element in the promoter's −35 region, they have a 9 bp sequence (a MotA box) centred at −30, which is bound by MotA. Recent work has begun to provide information about the MotA/AsiA system at a detailed molecular level. Accumulated evidence suggests that the presence of MotA and AsiA reconfigures protein–DNA contacts in the upstream promoter sequences, without significantly affecting the contacts of σ 70 with the −10 region. This type of activation, which is called ‘σ appropriation’, is fundamentally different from other well-characterized models of prokaryotic activation in which an activator frequently serves to force σ 70 to contact a less than ideal −35 DNA element. This review summarizes the interactions of AsiA and MotA with σ 70, and discusses how these interactions accomplish the switch to T4 middle promoters by inhibiting the typical contacts of the C-terminal region of σ 70, region 4, with the host −35 DNA element and with other subunits of polymerase.

The effect of gene dosage on the synthesis and stability of RNA polymerase subunits in Escherichia coli

1974 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. Hayward ◽  
Stuart J. Austin ◽  
John G. Scaife
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Gene Dosage ◽  
Rna Polymerase Subunits

Biosynthesis of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase subunits upon release of rifampicin inhibition

1976 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frode Engbaek ◽  
Carol Gross ◽  
Richard R. Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Rna Polymerase Subunits

scholarly journals A Mutation within the β Subunit of Escherichia coli RNA Polymerase Impairs Transcription from Bacteriophage T4 Middle Promoters

2010 ◽  
Vol 192 (21) ◽  
pp. 5580-5587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara D. James ◽  
Michael Cashel ◽  
Deborah M. Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Bacteriophage T4 ◽  
Β Subunit ◽  
Subunit Gene ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Promoter Activation ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Growth Phenotype

ABSTRACT During infection of Escherichia coli, bacteriophage T4 usurps the host transcriptional machinery, redirecting it to the expression of early, middle, and late phage genes. Middle genes, whose expression begins about 1 min postinfection, are transcribed both from the extension of early RNA into middle genes and by the activation of T4 middle promoters. Middle-promoter activation requires the T4 transcriptional activator MotA and coactivator AsiA, which are known to interact with σ70, the specificity subunit of RNA polymerase. T4 motA amber [motA(Am)] or asiA(Am) phage grows poorly in wild-type E. coli. However, previous work has found that T4 motA(Am)does not grow in the E. coli mutant strain TabG. We show here that the RNA polymerase in TabG contains two mutations within its β-subunit gene: rpoB(E835K) and rpoB(G1249D). We find that the G1249D mutation is responsible for restricting the growth of either T4 motA(Am)or asiA(Am) and for impairing transcription from MotA/AsiA-activated middle promoters in vivo. With one exception, transcription from tested T4 early promoters is either unaffected or, in some cases, even increases, and there is no significant growth phenotype for the rpoB(E835K G1249D) strain in the absence of T4 infection. In reported structures of thermophilic RNA polymerase, the G1249 residue is located immediately adjacent to a hydrophobic pocket, called the switch 3 loop. This loop is thought to aid in the separation of the RNA from the DNA-RNA hybrid as RNA enters the RNA exit channel. Our results suggest that the presence of MotA and AsiA may impair the function of this loop or that this portion of the β subunit may influence interactions among MotA, AsiA, and RNA polymerase.

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