Role of relA mutation in the survival of amino acid-starved Escherichia coli.

Amino acid-starved cells of Escherichia coli relA+, which contain a large number of glycogen particles, are able to survive in phosphate buffer for a longer time period than their relaxed counterparts. With regard to NH4+ starvation differences in the survival of both strains were not found. NH4+ starved cells of E. coli relA are able to synthesize glycogen but amino acid-starved cells of the relA strain are not. We suggest that the synthesis of glycogen triggered by guanosine tetraphosphate during amino acid starvation is responsible for the prolonged viability of the E. coli relA+ strain.