Control of membrane lipid synthesis in Escherichia coli during growth and during the stringent response

The regulation of phospholipid synthesis in cells of Escherichia coli was studied in vivo during growth and during the stringent response to amino acid starvation. Strains harboring the hybrid plasmid pLC44-14 (Clark, L., and Carbon, J. (1976) Cell 9, 91-99), which had increased levels of glycerophosphate acyltransferase, were used to study the involvement of this enzyme in the control of phospholipid synthesis. In addition, regulation was studied by measuring the levels of three early intermediates of phospholipid synthesis:phosphatidic acid, CDP-diglyceride, and dCDP-diglyceride. The liponucleotides were measured by a new enzymatic method which allows determinations to be made on crude lipid extracts. Results from experiments on growing cells are consistent with regulation of membrane lipid synthesis occurring in fatty acid synthesis or at the level of glycerophosphate acylation, but not at any later step. Experiments on the inhibition of lipid synthesis during the stringent response make it possible to rule out explanations which involve the inhibition of a single enzyme; enzymes both before and after the liponucleotides in phospholipid synthesis must be affected.