[Frontiers in Bioscience S4, 1007-1016 , January 1, 2012]

Strategies to adapt cellular processes to nutrient availability in bacteria

Elodie Foulquier1, Thierry Doan1, Frederique Pompeo1, Anne Galinier1

1From Laboratoire de Chimie Bacterienne, UPR 9043, IFR 88, CNRS, Universite de la Mediterranee, 31 chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. The first discovered regulatory mechanisms of adaptation to nutrient variations
3.1. Carbon catabolite regulation
3.2. The stringent response
4. Recent discoveries on links between metabolism, cell growth and the cell cycle
4.1. Nutrient availability determines cell size
4.2. Metabolism, cell wall elongation and chromosome morphology
4.3. Metabolism and morphogenesis
5. Conclusion
6. Acknowledgements
7. References

1. ABSTRACT

Bacteria are able to adapt to nutrient availability in the environment. For example, when nutritional conditions are not favorable, bacterial size can be reduced and duplication time can be significantly extended in comparison to rich growth conditions. These observations suggest that essential cellular processes like cell division, morphogenesis and chromosome dynamics are highly coordinated with central metabolism to ensure the production of fit progeny. The aim of this review is to provide an overview extending from physiological observations done more than fifty years ago to recent discoveries showing strategies to control essential functions in relation with metabolism in the model bacterium Bacillus subtilis.