Article
- The EMBO Journal (2006) 25, 1515 - 1521
- doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601041
Published online: 16 March 2006
Subject Categories:
Potassium glutamate as a transcriptional inhibitor during bacterial osmoregulation
Jay D Gralla and David R Vargas
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Correspondence to:
Jay D Gralla, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, PO Box 951569, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Tel.: +1 310 825 1620; Fax: +1 310 267 2302; E-mail: gralla@chem.ucla.edu
Received 20 October 2005; Accepted 20 February 2006
Abstract
Potassium glutamate accumulates upon hyper-osmotic shock and serves as a temporary osmoprotectant. This salt leads to transcriptional activation of sets of genes that allow the cell to achieve long-term adaptation to high osmolarity. The current experiments show that potassium glutamate also acts as an inhibitor of bulk cellular transcription. It can do so independent of the involvement of macromolecular repressors or activators by virtue of its ability to directly inhibit RNA polymerase binding to ribosomal promoters. Thus, potassium glutamate mediates a global transcription switch by acting differentially on RNA polymerase at sets of genomic promoters that differ in their built-in direct response to this salt.
Keywords:
- glutamate,
- osmotic,
- ribosomal,
- RNA polymerase,
- transcription
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