Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Regulatory Response to Carbon Starvation in Caulobacter crescentus

Journal Article · · PLoS One, 6(4):e18179
Bacteria adapt to shifts from rapid to slow growth, and have developed strategies for long-term survival during prolonged starvation and stress conditions. We report the regulatory response of C. crescentus to carbon starvation, based on combined high-throughput proteome and transcriptome analyses. Our results identify cell cycle changes in gene expression in response to carbon starvation that involve the prominent role of the FixK FNR/CAP family transcription factor and the CtrA cell cycle regulator. Notably, the SigT ECF sigma factor mediates the carbon starvation-induced degradation of CtrA, while activating a core set of general starvation-stress genes that respond to carbon starvation, osmotic stress, and exposure to heavy metals. Comparison of the response of swarmer cells and stalked cells to carbon starvation revealed four groups of genes that exhibit different expression profiles. Also, cell pole morphogenesis and initiation of chromosome replication normally occurring at the swarmer-to-stalked cell transition are uncoupled in carbon-starved cells.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1015255
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-79967; 34708; KP1601010
Journal Information:
PLoS One, 6(4):e18179, Journal Name: PLoS One, 6(4):e18179 Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 6
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English