title: Histidine starvation and adenosine 5'-triphosphate depletion in chemotaxis of Salmonella typhimurium.
abstract: Starvation for histidine prevented tumbling in Salmonella typhimurium hisF auxotrophs, including constantly tumbling strains with an additional mutation in cheB or cheZ. However, histidine-starved cheZs hisF strains were not defective in flagellar function or the tumbling mechanism since freshly starved auxotrophs tumbled in response to a variety of repellents. Tumbling in histidine-starved S. typhimurium could be restored in 13 s by addition of adenine or in 4 min by addition of histidine. Chloramphenicol did not prevent restoration of tumbling by these substances. Assays of adenosine 5'-triphosphate were performed based upon previous demonstration of adenine depletion in hisF auxotrophs starved for histidine. The adenosine 5'-triphosphate concentration dropped rapidly during the course of starvation, falling to less than 5% of the initial level as the cells ceased tumbling entirely. The change to smooth motility was prevented by 2-thiazolealanine, which inhibits phosphoribosyltransferase, thereby preventing adenine depletion during histidine starvation. These results suggest that an adenosine 5'-triphosphate deficiency was responsible for the change in tumbling frequency.
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000378:metabolism; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D002701:Chloramphenicol / Q000494:pharmacology; D006639:Histidine / Q000502:physiology*; D008715:Methionine / Q000502:physiology; D009154:Mutation; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D006639:Histidine; D002701:Chloramphenicol; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D008715:Methionine; D000225:Adenine