The Stringent Response Determines the Ability of a Commensal Bacterium to Survive Starvation and to Persist in the Gut.

ABSTRACT: In the mammalian gut, bacteria compete for resources to maintain their populations, but the factors determining their success are poorly understood. We report that the human gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron relies on the stringent response, an intracellular signaling pathway that allocates resources away from growth, to survive carbon starvation and persist in the gut. Genome-scale transcriptomics, ¹³C-labeling, and metabolomics analyses reveal that B. thetaiotaomicron uses the alarmone (p)ppGpp to repress multiple biosynthetic pathways and upregulate tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle genes in these conditions. During carbon starvation, (p)ppGpp triggers accumulation of the metabolite alpha-ketoglutarate, which itself acts as a metabolic regulator; alpha-ketoglutarate sup

SUBMITTER: Schofield WB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6086485 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature