Stationary phase stimulon and CspC regulon

The cold shock proteins belong to a family of RNA binding proteins presenting a highly conserved domain, called cold shock domain (CSD). They are involved in various cellular processes, including adaptation to low temperature, nutritional stress, cell growth and stationary phase. Here we investigate the role of CspC in C. crescentus stationary phase and the molecular mechanisms underlying gene regulation by this protein. A global transcriptional profiling experiment comparing cspC and the wild type strain both at exponential and stationary phases was carried out. The results showed that the absence of cspC affected the transcription of 20 genes at exponential phase and 65 genes at stationary phase. Genes encoding enzymes of the glyoxylate cycle were severely downregulated in the mutant at stationary phase. The stationary phase-induced RNA binding protein CspC has an important role in gene expression at this phase. It is required for the expression of the essential gene sciP, the ECF sigma factor sigU, as well as of the genes for the glyoxylate cycle enzymes and for oxidative stress response. Two and three replicates were performed to determine the stationary phase stimulon and CspC regulon, respectively. Each replicate was conducted with an independent biological sample.