Influence of Starvation for Methionine and Other Amino Acids on Subsequent Bacterial Deoxyribonucleic Acid Replication

Abstract

Billen, Daniel (University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston, Tex.), and Roger Hewitt . Influence of starvation for methionine and other amino acids on subsequent bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid replication. J. Bacteriol. 92: 609–617. 1966.—A study has been made of the subsequent replicative fate of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesized during amino acid starvation by several multiauxotrophic strains of Escherichia coli . Using radioisotopic and density labels and a procedure whereby total cellular DNA is analyzed, we have confirmed and extended a recent report that the DNA made during amino acid starvation behaves anomalously during subsequent DNA replication. When 5-bromouracil (BU) serves as the density lable, 40% or more of the DNA synthesized during starvation will subsequently fail to replicate during three cell generations. Selective amino acid effects were noted. In two methionine-requiring bacteria, methionine deprivation appeared to be of singular importance in influencing the subsequent replicative fate of the DNA made in its absence. When a non-BU density label (N 15 , C 13 ) was utilized, the effects of amino acid starvation were less obvious. Although the DNA synthesized during complete amino acid starvation in a methionine-requiring E. coli was subsequently more slowly replicated, most of the DNA was finally duplicated during three generations of growth. If methionine was present during starvation for other required amino acids, the subsequent replication rate of the DNA synthesized during this time was more nearly normal, and complete replication was observed. The results have been interpreted as indicating that DNA synthesized during amino acid starvation, and especially during methionine starvation, is somehow altered, and that BU substitution for thymine may interfere with the restoration of such DNA to its replicative state.

Isolation of Membrane-Associated Folded Chromosomes from Escherichia coli : Effect of Protein Synthesis Inhibition

“…Effect of 4,000 x g centrifugation on sedimentation properties of chromosomes from amino acid-starved cells. (a) Cells were grown in enriched medium containing 0.5 ALCi of ['4C]thymine per ml, 2.5 q Ci of [3 H]leticine per ml, and 2.5 qCi of [3 H]lysine per ml to 1011 cellslml and transferred to medium lacking amino acids, except for methionine (1). After 60-min amino acid starvation, the culture was lysed at 0 to 4 C. The lysate was subjected to a 4,000 x g centrifugation.…”

A novel Dps‐type protein from insect gut bacteria catalyses hydrolysis and synthesis of N‐acyl amino acids

“…The latter are clearly able to penetrate the microbial membrane, as cultures of M. arborescens and other microorganisms release AACs to medium when supplied with, for example, free linolenic acid and glutamine (Spiteller et al, 2000). Especially, the release of free glutamine may be important for the organisms as an efficient nitrogen source for nucleic acid biosynthesis under starvation (Billen and Hewitt, 1966;Irr, 1972;Tate et al, 2004).…”

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Repair Replication after Ultraviolet Light or X-Ray Exposure of Bacteria

“…Lysate preparation, density gradient equilibrium sedimentation, and DNA denaturation. Cell lysates were obtained by the lysozyme-pronase procedure already described (3). Density gradient equilibrium sedimentation analysis of isotope distribution in CsCl were as reported earlier (3).…”