Project description:Actively dividing cells perform robust and accurate DNA replication during fluctuating nutrient availability, yet factors that prevent disruption of replication remain largely unknown. Here we report that DksA, a nutrient-responsive transcription factor, ensures replication completion in Escherichia coli. In the absence of DksA, replication is rapidly arrested upon amino acid starvation. This replication arrest occurs independently of exogenous DNA damage, yet it induces the DNA damage response and recruits the main recombination protein RecA. This microarray experiment compares the transcriptional responses to amino acid starvation in wild-type and delta dksA cells. The SOS-regulated genes are highly induced in delta dksA cells.
Project description:In bacteria, translation-transcription coupling inhibits RNA polymerase (RNAP) stalling. We present evidence suggesting that, upon amino acid starvation, inactive ribosomes promote rather than inhibit RNAP stalling. We developed an algorithm to evaluate genome-wide polymerase progression independently of local noise, and used it to reveal that the transcription factor DksA inhibits promoter-proximal pausing and increases RNAP elongation when uncoupled from translation by depletion of charged tRNAs. DksA has minimal effect on RNAP elongation in vitro and on untranslated RNAs in vivo. In these cases, transcripts can form RNA structures that prevent backtracking. Thus, the effect of DksA on transcript elongation may occur primarily upon ribosome slowing/stalling or at promoter-proximal locations that limit the potential for RNA structure. We propose that inactive ribosomes prevent formation of backtrackblocking mRNA structures and that, in this circumstance, DksA acts as a transcription elongation factor in vivo. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments were performed by using antibodies against RNA polymerase b subunit in wild-type and DdksA cells treated with 0.5mg/ml serine hydroxamate (SHX) or untreated. DksA and s70 enrichments were compared to RNAP enrichment by ChIP experiments using antibodies against s70 and DksA in wild-type cells (also in DdksA cells as a negative control for DksA ChIP-chip). Differentially labeled ChIP DNA and genomic DNA were competitively hybridized to an E. coli K-12 MG1655 tiling array with overlapping probes at ~12bp spacing across the entire genome. The series contains 19 datasets.
Project description:In bacteria, translation-transcription coupling inhibits RNA polymerase (RNAP) stalling. We present evidence suggesting that, upon amino acid starvation, inactive ribosomes promote rather than inhibit RNAP stalling. We developed an algorithm to evaluate genome-wide polymerase progression independently of local noise, and used it to reveal that the transcription factor DksA inhibits promoter-proximal pausing and increases RNAP elongation when uncoupled from translation by depletion of charged tRNAs. DksA has minimal effect on RNAP elongation in vitro and on untranslated RNAs in vivo. In these cases, transcripts can form RNA structures that prevent backtracking. Thus, the effect of DksA on transcript elongation may occur primarily upon ribosome slowing/stalling or at promoter-proximal locations that limit the potential for RNA structure. We propose that inactive ribosomes prevent formation of backtrackblocking mRNA structures and that, in this circumstance, DksA acts as a transcription elongation factor in vivo.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in a Escherichia coli MG1655 K-12 ∆hns/∆stpA strain from exponental growth under aerobic and anaerobic growth conditions. The results are further described in the article Genome-scale Analysis of E.coli FNR Reveals the Complex Features of Transcrtipion Factor Binding.
Project description:Expression profiles of wild-type and SgrR mutant E. coli strains under aMG and 2-DG-induced stress. Expression profiles of E. coli overexpressing SgrS sRNA.
Project description:The pathogenic spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi senses and responds to diverse environmental challenges, including changes in nutrient availability, throughout its natural infectious cycle in Ixodes spp. ticks and mammalian hosts. This study examined the role of the putative DnaK suppressor protein (DksA) in the transcriptional response of B. burgdorferi to starvation. Wild-type and dksA-deficient B. burgdorferi strains were subjected to starvation by shifting mid-logarithmic cultures grown in BSK-II medium to serum-free RPMI medium for six hours under microaerobic conditions (5% CO2, 3% O2). Microarray analyses of wild-type B. burgdorferi revealed that genes encoding flagellar components, ribosomal proteins, and DNA replication machinery were downregulated in response to starvation. DksA mediated transcriptomic responses to starvation in B. burgdorferi as the dksA-deficient B. burgdorferi strain differentially expressed only 47 genes in response to starvation compared to the 500 genes differentially expressed by wild-type strains. Consistent with a role for DksA in the starvation response of B. burgdorferi, fewer CFUs were observed for dksA-deficient spirochetes after prolonged starvation in RPMI medium compared to wild-type B. burgdorferi. Transcriptomic analyses revealed a partial overlap between the DksA regulon and the regulon of the guanosine tetraphosphate and guanosine pentaphosphate [(p)ppGpp] synthase RelBbu, while the DksA regulon also included many plasmid-borne genes. Corresponding to a DksA-(p)ppGpp regulatory relationship, (p)ppGpp levels were constitutively elevated in the dksA-deficient strain compared to the wild-type strain. Together, these data indicate that DksA directs the stringent response with a regulatory interplay with (p)ppGpp that is fundamental to B. burgdorferi responses to the environment.