Effects on Growth by Changes of the Balance between GreA, GreB, and DksA Suggest Mutual Competition and Functional Redundancy in Escherichia coli

It is well known that ppGpp and DksA interact with bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) to alter promoter activity. This study suggests that GreA plays a major role and GreB plays a minor role in the ppGpp-DksA regulatory network. We present evidence that DksA and GreA/GreB are redundant and/or share similar functions: (i) on minimal medium GreA overproduction suppresses the growth defects of a dksA mutant; (ii) GreA and DksA overexpression partially suppresses the auxotrophy of a ppGpp-deficient strain; (iii) microarrays show that many genes are regulated similarly by GreA and DksA. We also find instances where GreA and DksA seem to act in opposition: (i) complete suppression of auxotrophy occurs by overexpression of GreA or DksA only in the absence of the other protein; (ii) PgadA and PgadE promoter fusions, along with many other genes, are dramatically affected in vivo by GreA overproduction only when DksA is absent; (iii) GreA and DksA show opposite regulation of a subset of genes. Mutations in key acidic residues of GreA and DksA suggest that properties seen here probably are not explained by known biochemical activities of these proteins. Our results indicate that the general pattern of gene expression and, in turn, the ability of Escherichia coli to grow under a defined condition are the result of a complex interplay between GreA, GreB, and DksA that also involves mutual control of their gene expression, competition for RNA polymerase binding, and similar or opposite action on RNA polymerase activity

Increased RNA polymerase availability directs resources towards growth at the expense of maintenance

Nutritionally induced changes in RNA polymerase availability have been hypothesized to be an evolutionary primeval mechanism for regulation of gene expression and several contrasting models have been proposed to explain how such ‘passive' regulation might occur. We demonstrate here that ectopically elevating Escherichia coli RNA polymerase (Eσ70) levels causes an increased expression and promoter occupancy of ribosomal genes at the expense of stress-defense genes and amino acid biosynthetic operons. Phenotypically, cells overproducing Eσ70 favours growth and reproduction at the expense of motility and damage protection; a response reminiscent of cells with no or diminished levels of the alarmone guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp). Consistently, we show that cells lacking ppGpp displayed markedly elevated levels of free Eσ70 compared with wild-type cells and that the repression of ribosomal RNA expression and reduced growth rate of mutants with constitutively elevated levels of ppGpp can be suppressed by overproducing Eσ70. We conclude that ppGpp modulates the levels of free Eσ70 and that this is an integral part of the alarmone's means of regulating a trade-off between growth and maintenance