JB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fischer, D.
Right arrow Articles by Hengge-Aronis, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fischer, D.
Right arrow Articles by Hengge-Aronis, R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6203-6206, Vol. 180, No. 23
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The General Stress Sigma Factor sigma S of Escherichia coli Is Induced during Diauxic Shift from Glucose to Lactose

Daniela Fischer,1 Antje Teich,2 Peter Neubauer,2 and Regine Hengge-Aronis1,*

Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz,1 and Institute for Biotechnology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle,2 Germany

Received 7 August 1998/Accepted 28 September 1998

The general stress sigma factor sigma S (RpoS) of Escherichia coli is strongly induced in response to glucose starvation. This increase in the cellular sigma S level is due to stabilization of sigma S, which under non-stress conditions is subject to rapid proteolysis. In the present study, it is demonstrated that sigma S is also induced during the diauxic shift from glucose to lactose, i.e., under conditions of glucose exhaustion in the presence of another, less-preferred carbon source that eventually gets utilized. This sigma S induction, which is due to stabilization, is transient and precedes the induction of beta -galactosidase. In parallel, sigma S-dependent genes are transiently activated, as was shown here for osmY. Although sigma S can mediate transcription of lacZ in vitro, sigma S does not contribute to the induction of beta -galactosidase during the diauxic lag phase. Rather, the induction of sigma S and the general stress response during the diauxic shift plays the role of a rapidly activated emergency system, which is shut off again as soon as the cells are able to cope with the stress situation by utilizing a more specific and more economical system.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Institute of Plant Physiology and Microbiology, Department of Biology, Free University of Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 12-16a, 14195 Berlin, Germany. Phone: (49)-30-838-3119. Fax: (49)-30-838-3118. E-mail: RHENGGEA{at}2EDAT.FU-BERLIN.DE.

Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6203-6206, Vol. 180, No. 23
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.