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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1975 Nov;72(11):4389–4393. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.11.4389

Guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp): positive effector for histidine operon transcription and general signal for amino-acid deficiency.

J C Stephens, S W Artz, B N Ames
PMCID: PMC388727  PMID: 1105582

Abstract

Maximal expression of the histidine operon of Salmonella typhimurium in a coupled in vitro transcription-translation system is strongly dependent upon addition of guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp). This requirement for ppGpp is exerted at the level of transcription through a mechanism distinct from the his-operon-specific regulatory mechanism. In vivo derepression of the his operon is markedly defective when histidine starvation is imposed on a relA mutant--unable to rapidly increase synthesis of ppGpp--growing in amino-acid-rich medium. Increased sensitivity of relA mutants to growth inhibition by a number of amino-acid analogs suggests that ppGpp is generally important in adjusting expression of amino-acid-producing systems. Analysis of these findings leads us to propose that ppGpp is a positive effector in a system that enables the cell to balance endogenous amino-acid production with environmental conditions of amino-acid availability, and to compensate efficiently for transient changes in these conditions. We propose a unifying theory of the role of ppGpp as the general signal molecule (alarmone) in a "super-control" which senses an amino-acid deficiency and redirects the cell's economy in response.

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Selected References

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

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