title: The roles of RelA/(p)ppGpp in glucose-starvation induced adaptive response in the zoonotic Streptococcus suis.
abstract: The (p)ppGpp signal molecules play a central role in the stringent response (SR) to adapt to nutrient starvation in bacteria, yet the carbohydrate starvation induced adaptive response and the roles of SR in this response is not well characterized, especially in Gram-positives. Here, two (p)ppGpp synthetases RelA and RelQ are identified in Streptococcus suis, an important emerging zoonotic Gram-positive bacterium, while only RelA is functional under glucose starvation. To characterize the roles of RelA/(p)ppGpp in glucose starvation response in S. suis, the growth curves and transcriptional profiles were compared between the mutant strain ΔrelA [a (p)ppGpp(0) strain under glucose starvation] and its parental strain SC-19 [(p)ppGpp(+)]. The results showed great difference between SC-19 and ΔrelA on adaptive responses when suffering glucose starvation, and demonstrated that RelA/(p)ppGpp plays important roles in adaptation to glucose starvation. Besides the classic SR including inhibition of growth and related macromolecular synthesis, the extended adaptive response also includes inhibited glycolysis, and carbon catabolite repression (CCR)-mediated carbohydrate-dependent metabolic switches. Collectively, the pheno- and genotypic characterization of the glucose starvation induced adaptive response in S. suis makes a great contribution to understanding better the mechanism of SR.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology and Key Laboratory of Veterinary Diagnosis (Ministry of Agriculture), College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.|Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430064, China.
authors.forename: Tengfei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology and Key Laboratory of Veterinary Diagnosis (Ministry of Agriculture), College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Jiawen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology and Key Laboratory of Veterinary Diagnosis (Ministry of Agriculture), College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Shun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430064, China.
authors.forename: Qingping
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology and Key Laboratory of Veterinary Diagnosis (Ministry of Agriculture), College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.|Cooperative Innovation Center of Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Shengqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.affiliation: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430064, China.
authors.forename: Huabin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology and Key Laboratory of Veterinary Diagnosis (Ministry of Agriculture), College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.|Cooperative Innovation Center of Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D057465:Catabolite Repression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D008025:Ligases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D017011:Streptococcus suis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008025:Ligases; C028812:guanosine 3',5'-polyphosphate synthetases; D005947:Glucose