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 Makinoshima, H.
Right arrow Articles by Ishihama, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Makinoshima, H.
Right arrow Articles by Ishihama, A.
Journal of Bacteriology, February 2003, p. 1338-1345, Vol. 185, No. 4
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.4.1338-1345.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Growth Phase-Coupled Alterations in Cell Structure and Function of Escherichia coli

Hideki Makinoshima,1,2,3 Shin-Ichi Aizawa,4 Hideo Hayashi,5 Takeyoshi Miki,6 Akiko Nishimura,7 and Akira Ishihama1,2*

Division of Molecular Biology, Nippon Institute for Biological Science, Ome, Tokyo 198-0024,1 Department of Molecular Genetics,2 Genetic Strains Research CenterNational Institute of Genetics,7 School of Bioscience, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Mishima 411-8540,3 Department of Biosciences, Teikyo University, Utsunomiya 320-8551,4 Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8575 ,5 Kyusyu University Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan6

Received 3 September 2002/ Accepted 15 November 2002

Escherichia coli cultures can be fractionated into more than 20 cell populations, each having a different bouyant density and apparently representing a specific stage of cell differentiation from exponential growth to stationary phase (H. Makinoshima, A. Nishimura, and A. Ishihama, Mol. Microbiol. 43:269-279, 2002). The density increase was found to be impaired at an early step for a mutant E. coli with the disrupted rpoS gene, which encodes the RNA polymerase RpoS (sigma-S) for stationary-phase gene transcription. This finding suggests that RpoS is need for the entire process of cell density increase. In the absence of RpoF sigma factor, the flagella are not formed as observed by electron microscopy, but the growth phase-coupled density increase takes place as in wild-type E. coli, confirming that the alteration in cell density is not directly correlated with the presence or absence of flagella. In the stationary-phase cells, accumulation of electron-dense areas was observed by electron microscopic observation of bacterial thin sections. By chemical determination, the increase in glycogen (or polysaccharides) was suggested to be one component, which contributes to the increase in weight-to-volume ratio of stationary-phase E. coli cells.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Nippon Institute for Biological Science, Shin-machi 9-2221, Ome, Tokyo 198-0024, Japan. Phone: 81-428-33-1071. Fax: 81-428-33-1072. E-mail: aishiham{at}lab.nig.ac.jp.


Journal of Bacteriology, February 2003, p. 1338-1345, Vol. 185, No. 4
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.4.1338-1345.2003
Copyright © 2003, 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 © 2003 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.