@article{mbs:/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000683, author = "Switzer, Amy and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Figueira, Rita and de Carvalho, Luiz Pedro S. and Brown, Daniel R. and Wigneshweraraj, Sivaramesh", title = "A novel regulatory factor affecting the transcription of methionine biosynthesis genes in Escherichia coli experiencing sustained nitrogen starvation", journal= "Microbiology", year = "2018", volume = "164", number = "11", pages = "1457-1470", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000683", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000683", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2080", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "transcription repressor", keywords = "MetJ", keywords = "Escherichia coli", keywords = "transcription regulation", keywords = "nitrogen starvation", keywords = "methionine biosynthesis", abstract = "The initial adaptive transcriptional response to nitrogen (N) starvation in Escherichia coli involves large-scale alterations to the transcriptome mediated by the transcriptional activator, NtrC. One of these NtrC-activated genes is yeaG, which encodes a conserved bacterial kinase. Although it is known that YeaG is required for optimal survival under sustained N starvation, the molecular basis by which YeaG benefits N starved E. coli remains elusive. By combining transcriptomics with targeted metabolomics analyses, we demonstrate that the methionine biosynthesis pathway becomes transcriptionally dysregulated in ΔyeaG bacteria experiencing sustained N starvation. It appears the ability of MetJ, the master transcriptional repressor of methionine biosynthesis genes, to effectively repress transcription of genes under its control is compromised in ΔyeaG bacteria under sustained N starvation, resulting in transcriptional derepression of MetJ-regulated genes. Although the aberrant biosynthesis does not appear to be a contributing factor for the compromised viability of ΔyeaG bacteria experiencing sustained N starvation, this study identifies YeaG as a novel regulatory factor in E. coli affecting the transcription of methionine biosynthesis genes under sustained N starvation.", }