Stringent and heat stress response in Bacillus subtilis

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Stringent and heat stress response in Bacillus subtilis We identified stringent response as part of heat stress response during thermotolerance in B. subtilis. We hypothesize that the known activities of stringent response, which result in the second messenger down regulation of translation, cell growth and DNA replication, is an intricate and important part of heat stress response, because curbing new protein synthesis will lower the load on the cellular protein quality control system. This suggests that bacterial cells might follow a strategy of upregulation of the cellular protein quality control system combined with a downregulation of new protein synthesis, already observed for the eukaryotic unfolded protein response. This is a very interesting new aspect not really well known and characterized in bacteria. It would make biological sense to adopt such a very fast and efficient regulatory mechanism, where the level of a second messenger, which can influence instantly many different cellular processes, is directly controlled. In our project proposal for the priority program 1879 Nucleotide Second Messenger Signaling in Bacteria we want to elucidate in collaboration with colleagues the molecular mechanism and the role of the stringent response in sensing and responding to heat stress also in relation to the concurrently activated Spx mediated stress response pathway.