Microbiology news and views
J. Mol. Micro. Biotechnol. 4: 341-346
Recent Insights into the General Stress Response Regulatory Network in Escherichia coli
Regine Hengge-Aronis
Many bacterial species exhibit a general stress response that can be induced by numerous very different stress conditions and, phenotypically, renders the cells broadly stress resistant. In Escherichia coli, this response is dependent on the sS (RpoS) subunit of RNA polymerase. sS is a close relative of the vegetative sigma factor s70 (RpoD) and recognizes very similar promoter sequences. In recent years, significant progress has been made with respect to elucidating (i) the molecular mechanisms that control the cellular sS level, which include translational regulation as well as intricate control of sS proteolysis, and (ii) the molecular function of sS as a transcription initiation factor, where a number of sS-dependent promoters have been studied in great detail, and the mechanisms that generate sS selectivity are now becoming apparent.
Full article [pdf]
Copyright © 2002 Horizon Scientific Press. All Rights Reserved.
New and forthcoming molecular biology books
Recommended Reading