The role of (p)ppGpp in the heat shock response in B. subtilis

Bacterial and eukaryotic cells survive an otherwise lethal heat shock once they are primed by a mild pre-heat shock. Using B. subtilis as a model organism, we investigated transcriptional changes during thermotolerance development at 37 °C, 48 °C, 53 °C and 48/53 °C and observed a comprehensive upregulation of genes of the general and heat shock response and the downregulation of many translation-related genes. In addition, strains lacking (p)ppGpp (ppGpp0) or with elevated (p)ppGpp levels (?relA) were analyzed at 37 °C and 48 °C, revealing broad and pleiotropic transcripional changes mediated by (p)ppGpp in the ?relA mutant. In addition, our data suggests a contribution of the (p)ppGpp-mediated stringent response in the heat-mediated transcripional down-regulation of ribosomal genes and additional processes. Overall design: RNA of heat shocked B subtilis wild type, (p)ppGpp0 and ?relA strains Please note that the *NoPP samples are special 5' enriched/depleted libraries which were used for TSS and promotor analysis and therefore, no processed (count or RPKM) data was generated.