Bacterial gene expression at low temperatures.
Under suboptimal environmental conditions such as low temperatures, many bacteria have an extended lag phase, altered cell structures, and composition such as a less fluid (more rigid) and leaky cytoplasmic membrane. As a result, cells may die, enter into a starvation mode of metabolism or a physiologically viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state. In the latter state, the amount of gene expression per cell is virtually undetectable. In this article, gene expression under (suboptimal) low temperature conditions in non-psychrophilic environmental bacteria is examined. The pros and cons of some of the molecular methodologies for gene expression analysis are also discussed.
Laboratory of Microbiology, School of Environmental Sciences, Rm. 3220 Bovey Bldg., University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada. jtrevors@uoguelph.ca
J T
JT
Trevors
A K
AK
Bej
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Mojib
J D
JD
van Elsas
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Van Overbeek
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D021301:Antifreeze Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003080:Cold Temperature; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D005615:Freezing; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D021301:Antifreeze Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins