Physiological Analysis of the Stringent Response Elicited in an Extreme Thermophilic Bacterium,Thermus thermophilus

Abstract

Guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) is a key mediator of stringent control, an adaptive response of bacteria to amino acid starvation, and has thus been termed a bacterial alarmone. Previous X-ray crystallographic analysis has provided a structural basis for the transcriptional regulation of RNA polymerase activity by ppGpp in the thermophilic bacteriumThermus thermophilus. Here we investigated the physiological basis of the stringent response by comparing the changes in intracellular ppGpp levels and the rate of RNA synthesis in stringent (rel⁺; wild type) and relaxed (relAandrelC; mutant) strains ofT. thermophilus. We found that in wild-typeT. thermophilus, as in other bacteria, serine hydroxamate, an amino acid analogue that inhibits tRNA^Seraminoacylation, elicited a stringent response characterized in part by intracellular accumulation of ppGpp and that this response was completely blocked in arelA-null mutant and partially blocked in arelCmutant harboring a mutation in the ribosomal protein L11. Subsequent in vitro assays using ribosomes isolated from wild-type andrelAandrelCmutant strains confirmed that (p)ppGpp is synthesized by ribosomes and that mutation of RelA or L11 blocks that activity. This conclusion was further confirmed in vitro by demonstrating that thiostrepton or tetracycline inhibits (p)ppGpp synthesis. In an in vitro system, (p)ppGpp acted by inhibiting RNA polymerase-catalyzed 23S/5S rRNA gene transcription but at a concentration much higher than that of the observed intracellular ppGpp pool size. On the other hand, changes in the rRNA gene promoter activity tightly correlated with changes in the GTP but not ATP concentration. Also, (p)ppGpp exerted a potent inhibitory effect on IMP dehydrogenase activity. The present data thus complement the earlier structural analysis by providing physiological evidence thatT. thermophilusdoes produce ppGpp in response to amino acid starvation in a ribosome-dependent (i.e., RelA-dependent) manner. However, it appears that inT. thermophilus, rRNA promoter activity is controlled directly by the GTP pool size, which is modulated by ppGpp via inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase activity. Thus, unlike the case ofEscherichia coli, ppGpp may not inhibitT. thermophilusRNA polymerase activity directly in vivo, as recently proposed forBacillus subtilisrRNA transcription (L. Krasny and R. L. Gourse, EMBO J.23:4473-4483, 2004).