Exponential-phase glycogen recycling is essential for growth of Mycobacterium smegmatis.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial glycogen is a polyglucose storage compound that is thought to prolong viability during stationary phase. However, a specific role for glycogen has not been determined. We have characterized SMEG53, a temperature-sensitive mutant of Mycobacterium smegmatis that contains a mutation in glgE, encoding a putative glucanase. This mutation causes exponentially growing SMEG53 cells to stop growing at 42 degrees C in response to high levels of glycogen accumulation. The mutation in glgE is also associated with an altered growth rate and colony morphology at permissive temperatures; the severity of these phenotypes correlates with the amount of glycogen accumulated by the mutant. Suppression of the temperature-sensitive phenotype, via a decrease in glycogen accumulation, is mediated by gro

SUBMITTER: Belanger AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC94131 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature