Regulation of RNA synthesis in Escherichia coli during a shift-up transition

These experiments investigate two aspects of RNA synthesis in Escherichia coli ML30 during the transition from a relatively slow rate of growth to a more rapid one: (1) the number of growing RNA molecules per cell, and (2) the average time required for addition of a nucleotide onto a growing RNA chain. Cells were grown at 30 degrees C in a glucose-minimal salts medium and shifted-up by the addition of Casamino acids. Measurements were made of the rates of incorporation over short intervals (e.g. 5,8,12, and 16 s) of [3-H]guanine into the internal and 3'-terminal nucleotides of RNA. After correction for the specific activities of the intracellular GTP pools, and for the rate of [3-H]guanine accumulation at the 3'-terminus of non-growing RNA, the rates of chain elongation were calculated. It was found that cells growing at a rate of 0.9 generations/h contain approx. 4800 RNA molecules, growing at a rate of 28 nucleotides/s per chain. Cells growing exponentially at the postshift-up rate (1.2 generations/h) contain 7000 RNA molecules per unit equivalent cell mass, which are growing at a rate of 32 nucleotides/s per molecule. Three min after shift-up, cells contain the same number or slightly fewer (10%) growing RNA molecules than cells prior to shift-up, 4300, and these are being elongated at a rate of about 32 nucleotides per s. The results are consistent with the view that in the range of growth rates studied, the total rate of RNA synthesis is regulated through a limitation in the number of functioning RNA polymerase molecules, each working at a relatively constant, presumably maximal, average rate.