Ornithine capture by a translating ribosome controls bacterial polyamine synthesis.

ABSTRACT: Polyamines are essential metabolites that play an important role in cell growth, stress adaptation and microbial virulence^1-3. To survive and multiply within a human host, pathogenic bacteria adjust the expression and activity of polyamine biosynthetic enzymes in response to different environmental stresses and metabolic cues². Here, we show that ornithine capture by the ribosome and the nascent peptide SpeFL controls polyamine synthesis in γ-proteobacteria by inducing the expression of the ornithine decarboxylase SpeF⁴, via a mechanism involving ribosome stalling and transcription antitermination. In addition, we present the cryogenic electron microscopy structure of an Escherichia coli ribosome stalled during translation of speFL in the presence of ornith

SUBMITTER: Herrero Del Valle A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7250644 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature