Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1992 Dec;174(24):8152–8155. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.24.8152-8155.1992

Rate maintenance of cell division in Escherichia coli B/r: analysis of a simple nutritional shift-down.

A Zaritsky 1, C E Helmstetter 1
PMCID: PMC207556  PMID: 1459964

Abstract

A competitive (nonmetabolizable) inhibitor of glucose uptake, alpha-methylglucoside, was used to limit the growth of Escherichia coli. Cell division during such a nutritional shift-down was studied in batch cultures and with the "baby-machine" technique. Following a brief delay, the rate of division was maintained for 60 to 70 min in batch cultures and for an extended period in the baby machine. Decreases in cell size were due, in part, to a possible reduction in the mass per chromosome origin at the time of replication initiation and a shorter time interval between initiation and the subsequent division. These unusual findings suggest that this method for abrupt change in growth rate without modifying repression patterns is useful for studying the control of various aspects of the bacterial cell.

Full text

PDF
8152

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Churchward G., Estiva E., Bremer H. Growth rate-dependent control of chromosome replication initiation in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1981 Mar;145(3):1232–1238. doi: 10.1128/jb.145.3.1232-1238.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Donachie W. D. Relationship between cell size and time of initiation of DNA replication. Nature. 1968 Sep 7;219(5158):1077–1079. doi: 10.1038/2191077a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Grossman N., Ron E. Z. Initiation of deoxyribonucleic acid replication in Escherichia coli B: uncoupling from mass/deoxyribonucleic acid ratio. J Bacteriol. 1980 Jul;143(1):100–104. doi: 10.1128/jb.143.1.100-104.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Grover N. B., Zaritsky A., Woldringh C. L., Rosenberger R. F. Dimensional rearrangement of rod-shaped bacteria following nutritional shift-up. I. Theory. J Theor Biol. 1980 Oct 7;86(3):421–439. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(80)90343-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hansen M. T., Pato M. L., Molin S., Fill N. P., von Meyenburg K. Simple downshift and resulting lack of correlation between ppGpp pool size and ribonucleic acid accumulation. J Bacteriol. 1975 May;122(2):585–591. doi: 10.1128/jb.122.2.585-591.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Helmstetter C. E., Leonard A. C. Involvement of cell shape in the replication and segregation of chromosomes in Escherichia coli. Res Microbiol. 1990 Jan;141(1):30–39. doi: 10.1016/0923-2508(90)90095-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Helmstetter C. E., Pierucci O. DNA synthesis during the division cycle of three substrains of Escherichia coli B/r. J Mol Biol. 1976 Apr 15;102(3):477–486. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(76)90329-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Helmstetter C., Cooper S., Pierucci O., Revelas E. On the bacterial life sequence. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1968;33:809–822. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1968.033.01.093. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Johnsen K., Molin S., Karlström O., Maaloe O. Control of protein synthesis in Escherichia coli: analysis of an energy source shift-down. J Bacteriol. 1977 Jul;131(1):18–29. doi: 10.1128/jb.131.1.18-29.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. KESSLER D. P., RICKENBERG H. V. The competitive inhibition of alpha-methylglucoside uptake in Escherichia coli. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1963 Mar 25;10:482–487. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(63)90383-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. KJELDGAARD N. O., MAALOE O., SCHAECHTER M. The transition between different physiological states during balanced growth of Salmonella typhimurium. J Gen Microbiol. 1958 Dec;19(3):607–616. doi: 10.1099/00221287-19-3-607. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. KJELDGAARD N. O. The kinetics of ribonucleic acid- and protein formation in Salmonella typhimurium during the transition between different states of balance growth. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1961 Apr 29;49:64–76. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(61)90870-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Molin S., Von Meyenburg K., Maaloe O., Hansen M. T., Pato M. L. Control of ribosome synthesis in Escherichia coli: analysis of an energy source shift-down. J Bacteriol. 1977 Jul;131(1):7–17. doi: 10.1128/jb.131.1.7-17.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Petersen S. K., Hansen F. G. A missense mutation in the rpoC gene affects chromosomal replication control in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1991 Aug;173(16):5200–5206. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.16.5200-5206.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pierucci O., Melzer M., Querini C., Rickert M., Krajewski C. Comparison among patterns of macromolecular synthesis in Escherichia coli B/r at growth rates of less and more than one doubling per hour at 37 degrees C. J Bacteriol. 1981 Nov;148(2):684–696. doi: 10.1128/jb.148.2.684-696.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. SCHAECHTER M., MAALOE O., KJELDGAARD N. O. Dependency on medium and temperature of cell size and chemical composition during balanced grown of Salmonella typhimurium. J Gen Microbiol. 1958 Dec;19(3):592–606. doi: 10.1099/00221287-19-3-592. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Woldringh C. L., Grover N. B., Rosenberger R. F., Zaritsky A. Dimensional rearrangement of rod-shaped bacteria following nutritional shift-up. II. Experiments with Escherichia coli B/r. J Theor Biol. 1980 Oct 7;86(3):441–454. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(80)90344-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Zaritsky A. On dimensional determination of rod-shaped bacteria. J Theor Biol. 1975 Oct;54(2):243–248. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5193(75)80129-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. von Meyenburg Kaspar Transport-limited growth rates in a mutant of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1971 Sep;107(3):878–888. doi: 10.1128/jb.107.3.878-888.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES