doi.org
E. coli prepares for starvation by dramatically remodeling its proteome in the first hours after loss of nutrients - Molecular Systems Biology
Although in the wild bacteria likely spend most of their time deprived of nutrients and slowly starving to death, very little is known about how bacteria adapt their phenotype to starvation. Here we combine microfluidics with quantitative fluorescence microscopy of transcriptional reporters to comprehensively quantify growth and gene expression at the single-cell level in E. coli during carbon starvation. We find that all cells immediately stop growing upon loss of carbon source and that almost all remain alive for over 30 hours. Furthermore, entry into starvation triggers a dynamic expression program that is remarkably homogeneous across single cells, but highly variable across genes, causing dramatic remodeling of the proteome early in starvation. We further show that, as protein production and the rate of protein degradation both decay approximately exponentially, protein concentrations become essentially ‘frozen’ after the first 5 to 10 hours, setting phenotypes for several days of starvation. Finally, using experiments in which gene expression is inhibited for different periods, we show that protein production in the first 5 hours is crucial for protecting cells from stresses late in starvation.
![Comic. [Gravestone for Joseph Paul Overton with list of years underneath. 1960-2003 is in black at the top and crossed out in red. Underneath in red is 1965-2011, crossed out, then 1973-2018, crossed out, then 1982-]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiaut6sdohepzijosvhba55e5ojf35fdla4aejyushtqqr75am54cm)
![Comic. Planets and Bright Stars Identification Chart. [Bright glowing dots over black background with labels underneath: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Sirius, Procyon, Antares, Altair, Betelgeuse, Vega, Polaris]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreib5t2xnr34z77dbhyb5hosqud4ime6wcz2oj4nwp4zo7z5bjv7nza)
