Polyphosphate binds to the principal sigma factor of RNA polymerase during starvation response in Helicobacter pylori.

ABSTRACT: Helicobacter pylori persists deep in the human gastric mucus layer in a harsh, nutrient-poor environment. Survival under these conditions depends on the ability of this human pathogen to invoke starvation/stress responses when needed. Unlike many bacteria, H. pylori lacks starvation/stress-responding alternative sigma factors, suggesting an additional mechanism might have evolved in this bacterium. Helicobacter pylori produces polyphosphate; however, the role and target of polyphosphate during starvation/stress have not been identified. Here we show that polyphosphate accumulated during nutrient starvation directly targets transcriptional machinery by binding to the principal sigma factor in H. pylori, uncovering a novel mechanism in microbial stress response. A positively charged Lys-rich

SUBMITTER: Yang ZX 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2917625 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature