Stationary phase gene regulation: what makes an Escherichia coli promoter sigmaS-selective?

The general stress sigma factor sigma(S) and the vegetative sigma(70) are highly related and recognise the same core promoter elements. Nevertheless, they clearly control different sets of genes in vivo. Recent studies have demonstrated that Esigma(S) selectivity is based on modular combinations of several sequence and structural features of a promoter, to which also trans-acting factors can strongly contribute. These results throw novel light on the details of transcription initiation, as well as on the co-evolution of sigma factors and their cognate promoter sequences.