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Suppression of mutations conferring penicillin tolerance by interference with the stringent control mechanism of
Abstract:
Mutations in Escherichia coli previously reported (R. E. Harkness and E. E. Ishiguro, J. Bacteriol. 155:15-21, 1983; L. C. Shimmin, D. Vanderwel, R. E. Harkness, B. R. Currie, A. Galloway, and E. E. Ishiguro, J. Gen. Microbiol. 130:1315-1323, 1984) as conferring a temperature-dependent tolerance to lysis induced by inhibitors of peptidoglycan synthesis were suppressed by treatment with inhibitors of the stringent response or by introduction of a relA mutation. The relA+ derivatives of the mutants exhibited a stringent response at the nonpermissive temperature. The consequent inhibition of the autolytic enzyme system (W. Kusser and E. E. Ishiguro, J. Bacteriol. 164:861-865, 1985) was apparently responsible for the lysis-tolerant phenotypes of these mutants.