1887

Abstract

auxotrophs of and were examined to determine if higher rates of transcription in derepressed genes were correlated with increased reversion rates. Rates of and mRNA synthesis were determined using half-lives and concentrations, during exponential growth and at several time points during 30 min of amino acid starvation. Changes in mRNA concentration were primarily due to increased mRNA synthesis and not to increased stability. Four strains of amino acid auxotrophs, isogenic except for and , were examined. In both the and genes, rates of transcription and mutation were compared. In general, strains able to activate transcription with guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) had higher rates of mRNA synthesis and mutation than those lacking ppGpp ( mutants). knockout strains were constructed in and mutant strains, and rates of both reversion and mRNA synthesis were significantly higher in the knockouts than in the regulated strains. A statistically significant linear correlation between increased rates of transcription and mutation was found for data from both genes. In general, changes in mRNA half-lives were less than threefold, whereas changes in rates of mRNA synthesis were often two orders of magnitude. The results suggest that specific starvation conditions target the biosynthetic genes for derepression and increased rates of transcription and mutation.

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2004-05-01
2024-10-10
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