Relationship of the MS Nucleotides to the Regulation of Ribonucleic Acid Synthesis in Escherichia coli

Abstract

Abstract The formation of MS nucleotides during amino acid starvation in an RC-stringent leucine auxotroph of Escherichia coli was found to be inhibited by rifampicin, an inhibitor of chain initiation by RNA polymerase. By measuring the evel of charging of leucine-specific transfer RNA during rifampicin treatment, this inhibition was shown not to be mediated through an alleviation of amino acid starvation. This points to a dependence of MS formation on nascent RNA synthesis and the significance of these findings to the relationship between MS compounds and regulation of RNA synthesis is discussed.