Abstract
In Bacillus subtilis the percentage of the incorporation of radioactive uracil that enters into ribosomal subunits and ribosomal RNA decreases drastically, early during spore formation. This finding suggests that ribosomal RNA genes are turned off in sporulating cells. The RNA polymerase of B. subtilis loses a template specificity characteristic of the vegetative enzyme early during spore formation (Losick & Sonenshein, 1969). However, a rifampicin-resistant mutant known as rfr-10 (Sonenshein & Losick, 1970) alters the RNA polymerase in such a way that it retains vegetative template specificity during stationary phase. We now report that rfr-10 continues synthesizing ribosomal subunits and ribosomal RNA after the end of logarithmic growth. On the other hand, rfr-10 ceases to synthesize ribosomal RNA under conditions of amino-acid starvation, indicating that the mechanism responsible for turning off ribosomal RNA genes during sporulation is different from the mechanism of stringent control of ribosomal RNA synthesis.
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