Rate of environmental change determines stress response specificity

Heterogeneity of Stop Codon Readthrough in Single Bacterial Cells and Implications for Population Fitness

Gene expression noise (heterogeneity) leads to phenotypic diversity among isogenic individual cells. Our current understanding of gene expression noise is mostly limited to transcription, as separating translational noise from transcriptional noise has been challenging. It also remains unclear how translational heterogeneity originates. Using a transcription-normalized reporter system, we discovered that stop codon readthrough is heterogeneous among single cells, and individual cells with higher UGA readthrough grow faster from stationary phase. Our work also revealed that individual cells with lower protein synthesis levels exhibited higher UGA readthrough, which was confirmed with ribosome-targeting antibiotics (e.g., chloramphenicol). Further experiments and mathematical modeling suggest that varied competition between ternary complexes and release factors perturbs the UGA readthrough level. Our results indicate that fluctuations in the concentrations of translational components lead to UGA readthrough heterogeneity among single cells, which enhances phenotypic diversity of the genetically identical population and facilitates its adaptation to changing environments.

Environmental Stress Affects the Formation of Staphylococcus aureus Persisters Tolerant to Antibiotics

The ability to form persisters has been observed in many microorganisms, including Staphylococcus aureus, mainly in the context of chronic infections and the pathogenicity of these microbes. In our research, we have demonstrated that salt or oxidative stress could play a role in the formation of S. aureus persisters outside the host's intracellular interface. We pre-exposed planktonic growing bacterial culture to an oxidative or salt stress and monitored the dynamics of persister formation after ciprofloxacin and gentamicin treatment. In parallel, using the quantitative PCR (qPCR) approach, we determined the expression level of the stress sigma factor SigB. The pre-exposure of bacteria to salt stress caused a 1-2.5 order of magnitude increase in persister formation in the bacterial population after antibiotic exposure, depending on the type and concentration of the antibiotic used. In contrast, oxidative stress only minimally influenced the formation of persisters, without correlation to the antibiotic type and concentration. We have demonstrated that both stress and antibiotic exposure increase the expression of sigB in bacterial populations from very early on. And that the expression level of sigB differs with the type of antibiotic and stress, but no correlation was observed between persister formation and sigB expression. The method used could be helpful in testing the ability that strains can have, to form persisters.

Adjustment of the Arabidopsis circadian oscillator by sugar signalling dictates the regulation of starch metabolism

Arabidopsis plants store part of the carbon fixed by photosynthesis as starch to sustain growth at night. Two competing hypotheses have been proposed to explain this diel starch turnover based on either the measurement of starch abundance with respect to circadian time, or the sensing of sugars to feedback to the circadian oscillator to dynamically adjust the timing of starch turnover. We report a phase oscillator model that permitted derivation of the ideal responses of the circadian regulation of starch breakdown to maintain sucrose homeostasis. Testing the model predictions using a sugar-unresponsive mutant of Arabidopsis demonstrated that the dynamics of starch turnover arise from the circadian clock measuring and responding to the rate of change of cellular sucrose. Our theory and experiments suggest that starch turnover is controlled by the circadian clock acting as a dynamic homeostat responding to sucrose signals to maintain carbon homeostasis.

Guardians in a stressful world: the Opu family of compatible solute transporters from Bacillus subtilis

The development of a semi-permeable cytoplasmic membrane was a key event in the evolution of microbial proto-cells. As a result, changes in the external osmolarity will inevitably trigger water fluxes along the osmotic gradient. The ensuing osmotic stress has consequences for the magnitude of turgor and will negatively impact cell growth and integrity. No microorganism can actively pump water across the cytoplasmic membrane; hence, microorganisms have to actively adjust the osmotic potential of their cytoplasm to scale and direct water fluxes in order to prevent dehydration or rupture. They will accumulate ions and physiologically compliant organic osmolytes, the compatible solutes, when they face hyperosmotic conditions to retain cell water, and they rapidly expel these compounds through the transient opening of mechanosensitive channels to curb water efflux when exposed to hypo-osmotic circumstances. Here, we provide an overview on the salient features of the osmostress response systems of the ubiquitously distributed bacterium Bacillus subtilis with a special emphasis on the transport systems and channels mediating regulation of cellular hydration and turgor under fluctuating osmotic conditions. The uptake of osmostress protectants via the Opu family of transporters, systems of central importance for the management of osmotic stress by B. subtilis, will be particularly highlighted.

Use of a microfluidic platform to uncover basic features of energy and environmental stress responses in individual cells of Bacillus subtilis

Bacteria use a variety of stress-sensing systems to sense and respond to diverse stressors and to ensure their survival under adverse conditions. The gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis responds to energy stress (ATP depletion) and to environmental stressors using two distinct stress-sensing pathways that converge on the alternative sigma factor σB to provoke a general stress response. Past efforts to study the σB stress response in bulk culture and on agarose pads were unable to visualize the responses of individual cells under tightly controlled conditions for extended periods of time. Here we use a microfluidics-based strategy to discern the basic features of σB activation in single cells in response to energy and environmental stress, both immediately upon stressor exposure and for tens of generations thereafter. Upon energy stress at various levels of stressor, cells exhibited fast, transient, and amplitude-modulated responses but not frequency modulation as previously reported. Upon environmental stress, which is mediated by the stressosome complex, wild-type cells primarily exhibited a transient and amplitude-modulated response. However, mutant cells producing only one of the four paralogous RsbR stressosome proteins showed striking and previously unseen differences. Whereas RsbRA-only cells mimicked the wild type, RsbRC-only cells displayed a slower but sustained overall response composed of repeated activation events in single cells.

Distributing tasks via multiple input pathways increases cellular survival in stress

Improving in one aspect of a task can undermine performance in another, but how such opposing demands play out in single cells and impact on fitness is mostly unknown. Here we study budding yeast in dynamic environments of hyperosmotic stress and show how the corresponding signalling network increases cellular survival both by assigning the requirements of high response speed and high response accuracy to two separate input pathways and by having these pathways interact to converge on Hog1, a p38 MAP kinase. Cells with only the less accurate, reflex-like pathway are fitter in sudden stress, whereas cells with only the slow, more accurate pathway are fitter in increasing but fluctuating stress. Our results demonstrate that cellular signalling is vulnerable to trade-offs in performance, but that these trade-offs can be mitigated by assigning the opposing tasks to different signalling subnetworks. Such division of labour could function broadly within cellular signal transduction.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21415.001

The faster we do tasks the harder it is to do them well. For example, when we wish to judge if, say, a cup, is too hot, we first quickly withdraw our hand after touching it: we know that the cup is hot but not how much. Next we hold a finger against the cup to accurately judge its temperature. Such speed-accuracy trade-offs are studied widely in fields ranging from neuroscience to engineering, but their consequences for single cells are unknown. This is despite the fact that when cells are exposed to stress they must respond both quickly (to survive) and accurately (to reduce how many resources they consume).

One way of stressing yeast cells is to place them in a syrupy substance called sorbitol. This causes the cells to lose water, shrink in size, and launch a stress response to regain volume. If the cells respond inappropriately to the situation, they may die.

The signalling network that produces the stress response is unusual in that it has a Y-shaped structure, where the two ‘arms’ of the Y are the input pathways. Although it was known that one input pathway responds to stress faster than the other, the advantages of having two inputs in the signalling network were not understood. Granados, Crane et al. thought that the differences in speed and the Y-shaped structure could allow the cell to respond to stress with both speed and accuracy.

To investigate this theory, Granados, Crane et al. used a microscope to study individual yeast cells that had been exposed to sorbitol. Combining these results with a mathematical model of the cell signalling network revealed that a mutant yeast cell that only has one of the input pathways specializes in speed but is inaccurate, similar to a reflex-like response. In contrast, a mutant with only the other pathway specializes in accuracy, being slower but matching the level of the cell’s response to the level of stress placed on it. This trade-off is reflected in rates of cell survival: the first mutant survives best in sudden shocks of stress; the second mutant survives best in gradually increasing stress. Normal yeast cells that have both input pathways survive more often than either mutant.

Overall, the results presented by Granados, Crane et al. reveal principles behind cellular decision-making that should hold true in more complex organisms and could be exploited by synthetic biologists to programme cells with new behaviours.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21415.002

Nonlinear feedback drives homeostatic plasticity in H2O2 stress response

Homeostatic systems that rely on genetic regulatory networks are intrinsically limited by the transcriptional response time, which may restrict a cell’s ability to adapt to unanticipated environmental challenges. To bypass this limitation, cells have evolved mechanisms whereby exposure to mild stress increases their resistance to subsequent threats. However, the mechanisms responsible for such adaptive homeostasis remain largely unknown. Here, we used live-cell imaging and microfluidics to investigate the adaptive response of budding yeast to temporally controlled H₂O₂ stress patterns. We demonstrate that acquisition of tolerance is a systems-level property resulting from nonlinearity of H₂O₂ scavenging by peroxiredoxins and our study reveals that this regulatory scheme induces a striking hormetic effect of extracellular H₂O₂ stress on replicative longevity. Our study thus provides a novel quantitative framework bridging the molecular architecture of a cellular homeostatic system to the emergence of nonintuitive adaptive properties.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23971.001

Harmful external conditions, such as extreme heat or radiation, can cause stress to cells that may lead to permanent damage and even death. Cell stress is responsible for some cancers and degenerative diseases, and is involved in the process of aging. Cells respond to stress by modifying their activities in order to prevent damage from occurring. Some studies have suggested that the ability of cells to survive a stressful situation might depend both on the severity of the stress and also on the way in which the stress is applied. For example, the stress might start suddenly or develop more gradually.

Cells exposed to a mild level of stress develop a tolerance that enables them to survive stronger doses of the same stress in the future. However, it is not clear how cells acquire such tolerance, and whether mild levels of stress can have more general benefits to cells, such as increased lifespan.

Hydrogen peroxide and other “oxidative” compounds play important roles in cells, but they are also capable of causing damage so their levels must be tightly controlled. Goulev et al. developed a “microfluidic” device to study the effects of oxidative stress on yeast cells. The device made it possible to precisely control the level of hydrogen peroxide in the cells’ environment while monitoring the cells’ stress responses.

The experiments show that exposing yeast cells to gradually increasing levels of hydrogen peroxide can train the cells to be able to survive when they are exposed to high levels of this compound. This ability depends on the activity of specific enzymes called peroxidases that are known to be able to destroy hydrogen peroxide inside the cells. The experiments suggest that gradually increasing levels of hydrogen peroxide trigger increases in the production of peroxidases that protect the cells against future oxidative stress.

Further experiments show that even a very low dose of hydrogen peroxide is sufficient to activate the production of the enzymes, leading to an increase in the lifespan of the cells. A future challenge will be to investigate whether the principles identified in this work also apply to other stress responses in yeast.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23971.002

Image analysis driven single-cell analytics for systems microbiology

BACKGROUND

Time-lapse microscopy is an essential tool for capturing and correlating bacterial morphology and gene expression dynamics at single-cell resolution. However state-of-the-art computational methods are limited in terms of the complexity of cell movies that they can analyze and lack of automation. The proposed Bacterial image analysis driven Single Cell Analytics (BaSCA) computational pipeline addresses these limitations thus enabling high throughput systems microbiology.

RESULTS

BaSCA can segment and track multiple bacterial colonies and single-cells, as they grow and divide over time (cell segmentation and lineage tree construction) to give rise to dense communities with thousands of interacting cells in the field of view. It combines advanced image processing and machine learning methods to deliver very accurate bacterial cell segmentation and tracking (F-measure over 95%) even when processing images of imperfect quality with several overcrowded colonies in the field of view. In addition, BaSCA extracts on the fly a plethora of single-cell properties, which get organized into a database summarizing the analysis of the cell movie. We present alternative ways to analyze and visually explore the spatiotemporal evolution of single-cell properties in order to understand trends and epigenetic effects across cell generations. The robustness of BaSCA is demonstrated across different imaging modalities and microscopy types.

CONCLUSIONS

BaSCA can be used to analyze accurately and efficiently cell movies both at a high resolution (single-cell level) and at a large scale (communities with many dense colonies) as needed to shed light on e.g. how bacterial community effects and epigenetic information transfer play a role on important phenomena for human health, such as biofilm formation, persisters' emergence etc. Moreover, it enables studying the role of single-cell stochasticity without losing sight of community effects that may drive it.

An operational view of intercellular signaling pathways

Animal cells use a conserved repertoire of intercellular signaling pathways to communicate with one another. These pathways are well-studied from a molecular point of view. However, we often lack an "operational" understanding that would allow us to use these pathways to rationally control cellular behaviors. This requires knowing what dynamic input features each pathway perceives and how it processes those inputs to control downstream processes. To address these questions, researchers have begun to reconstitute signaling pathways in living cells, analyzing their dynamic responses to stimuli, and developing new functional representations of their behavior. Here we review important insights obtained through these new approaches, and discuss challenges and opportunities in understanding signaling pathways from an operational point of view.

Structure and Function of the Stressosome Signalling Hub

The stressosome is a multi-protein signal integration and transduction hub found in a wide range of bacterial species. The role that the stressosome plays in regulating the transcription of genes involved in the general stress response has been studied most extensively in the Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis. The stressosome receives and relays the signal(s) that initiate a complex phosphorylation-dependent partner switching cascade, resulting in the activation of the alternative sigma factor σ^B. This sigma factor controls transcription of more than 150 genes involved in the general stress response. X-ray crystal structures of individual components of the stressosome and single-particle cryo-EM reconstructions of stressosome complexes, coupled with biochemical and single cell analyses, have permitted a detailed understanding of the dynamic signalling behaviour that arises from this multi-protein complex. Furthermore, bioinformatics analyses indicate that genetic modules encoding key stressosome proteins are found in a wide range of bacterial species, indicating an evolutionary advantage afforded by stressosome complexes. Interestingly, the genetic modules are associated with a variety of signalling modules encoding secondary messenger regulation systems, as well as classical two-component signal transduction systems, suggesting a diversification in function. In this chapter we review the current research into stressosome systems and discuss the functional implications of the unique structure of these signalling complexes.

Role of Autoregulation and Relative Synthesis of Operon Partners in Alternative Sigma Factor Networks

Despite the central role of alternative sigma factors in bacterial stress response and virulence their regulation remains incompletely understood. Here we investigate one of the best-studied examples of alternative sigma factors: the σ^B network that controls the general stress response of Bacillus subtilis to uncover widely relevant general design principles that describe the structure-function relationship of alternative sigma factor regulatory networks. We show that the relative stoichiometry of the synthesis rates of σ^B, its anti-sigma factor RsbW and the anti-anti-sigma factor RsbV plays a critical role in shaping the network behavior by forcing the σ^B network to function as an ultrasensitive negative feedback loop. We further demonstrate how this negative feedback regulation insulates alternative sigma factor activity from competition with the housekeeping sigma factor for RNA polymerase and allows multiple stress sigma factors to function simultaneously with little competitive interference.

Understanding the regulation of bacterial stress response holds the key to tackling the problems of emerging resistance to anti-bacteria’s and antibiotics. To this end, here we study one of the longest serving model systems of bacterial stress response: the σ^B pathway of Bacillus subtilis. The sigma factor σ^B controls the general stress response of Bacillus subtilis to a variety of stress conditions including starvation, antibiotics and harmful environmental perturbations. Recent studies have demonstrated that an increase in stress triggers pulsatile activation of σ^B. Using mathematical modeling we identify the core structural design feature of the network that are responsible for its pulsatile response. We further demonstrate how the same core design features are common to a variety of stress response pathways. As a result of these features, cells can respond to multiple simultaneous stresses without interference or competition between the different pathways.

Label-free, rapid and quantitative phenotyping of stress response in E. coli via ramanome

Rapid profiling of stress-response at single-cell resolution yet in a label-free, non-disruptive and mechanism-specific manner can lead to many new applications. We propose a single-cell-level biochemical fingerprinting approach named “ramanome”, which is the collection of Single-cell Raman Spectra (SCRS) from a number of cells randomly selected from an isogenic population at a given time and condition, to rapidly and quantitatively detect and characterize stress responses of cellular population. SCRS of Escherichia coli cells are sensitive to both exposure time (eight time points) and dosage (six doses) of ethanol, with detection time as early as 5 min and discrimination rate of either factor over 80%. Moreover, the ramanomes upon six chemical compounds from three categories, including antibiotics of ampicillin and kanamycin, alcohols of ethanol and n-butanol and heavy metals of Cu²⁺ and Cr⁶⁺, were analyzed and 31 marker Raman bands were revealed which distinguish stress-responses via cytotoxicity mechanism and variation of inter-cellular heterogeneity. Furthermore, specificity, reproducibility and mechanistic basis of ramanome were validated by tracking stress-induced dynamics of metabolites and by contrasting between cells with and without genes that convey stress resistance. Thus ramanome enables rapid prediction and mechanism-based screening of cytotoxicity and stress-response programs at single-cell resolution.

Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes during Bacillus subtilis Spore Outgrowth in High-Salinity Environments Using RNA Sequencing

In its natural habitat, the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis often has to cope with fluctuating osmolality and nutrient availability. Upon nutrient depletion it can form dormant spores, which can revive to form vegetative cells when nutrients become available again. While the effects of salt stress on spore germination have been analyzed previously, detailed knowledge on the salt stress response during the subsequent outgrowth phase is lacking. In this study, we investigated the changes in gene expression during B. subtilis outgrowth in the presence of 1.2 M NaCl using RNA sequencing. In total, 402 different genes were upregulated and 632 genes were downregulated during 90 min of outgrowth in the presence of salt. The salt stress response of outgrowing spores largely resembled the osmospecific response of vegetative cells exposed to sustained high salinity and included strong upregulation of genes involved in osmoprotectant uptake and compatible solute synthesis. The σ^B-dependent general stress response typically triggered by salt shocks was not induced, whereas the σ^W regulon appears to play an important role for osmoadaptation of outgrowing spores. Furthermore, high salinity induced many changes in the membrane protein and transporter transcriptome. Overall, salt stress seemed to slow down the complex molecular reorganization processes (“ripening”) of outgrowing spores by exerting detrimental effects on vegetative functions such as amino acid metabolism.

A Regulated Double-Negative Feedback Decodes the Temporal Gradient of Input Stimulation in a Cell Signaling Network

Revealing the hidden mechanism of how cells sense and react to environmental signals has been a central question in cell biology. We focused on the rate of increase of stimulation, or temporal gradient, known to cause different responses of cells. We have investigated all possible three-node enzymatic networks and identified a network motif that robustly generates a transient or sustained response by acute or gradual stimulation, respectively. We also found that a regulated double-negative feedback within the motif is essential for the temporal gradient-sensitive switching. Our analysis highlights the essential structure and mechanism enabling cells to properly respond to dynamic environmental changes.

Costs, benefits and redundant mechanisms of adaption to chronic low-dose stress in yeast

All organisms live in changeable, stressful environments. It has been reported that exposure to low-dose stresses or poisons can improve fitness. However, examining the effects of chronic low-dose chemical exposure is challenging. To address this issue we used temperature sensitive mutations affecting the yeast cell division cycle to induce low-dose stress for 40 generation times, or more. We examined cdc13-1 mutants, defective in telomere function, and cdc15-2 mutants, defective in mitotic kinase activity. We found that each stress induced similar adaptive responses. Stress-exposed cells became resistant to higher levels of stress but less fit, in comparison with unstressed cells, in conditions of low stress. The costs and benefits of adaptation to chronic stress were reversible. In the cdc13-1 context we tested the effects of Rad9, a central player in the response to telomere defects, Exo1, a nuclease that degrades defective telomeres, and Msn2 and Msn4, 2 transcription factors that contribute to the environmental stress response. We also observed, as expected, that Rad9 and Exo1 modulated the response of cells to stress. In addition we observed that adaptation to stress could still occur in these contexts, with associated costs and benefits. We conclude that functionally redundant cellular networks control the adaptive responses to low dose chronic stress. Our data suggests that if organisms adapt to low dose stress it is helpful if stress continues or increases but harmful should stress levels reduce.

Evolutionary Phase Transitions in Random Environments

We present analytical results for long-term growth rates of structured populations in randomly fluctuating environments, which we apply to predict how cellular response networks evolve. We show that networks which respond rapidly to a stimulus will evolve phenotypic memory exclusively under random (i.e., nonperiodic) environments. We identify the evolutionary phase diagram for simple response networks, which we show can exhibit both continuous and discontinuous transitions. Our approach enables exact analysis of diverse evolutionary systems, from viral epidemics to emergence of drug resistance.

Single-Cell Analysis of the Dps Response to Oxidative Stress

Microorganisms have developed an elaborate spectrum of mechanisms to respond and adapt to environmental stress conditions. Among these is the expression of dps, coding for the DNA-binding protein from starved cells. Dps becomes the dominant nucleoid-organizing protein in stationary-phase Escherichia coli cells and is required for robust survival under stress conditions, including carbon or nitrogen starvation, oxidative stress, metal exposure, and irradiation. To study the complex regulation of Dps in E. coli, we utilized time-lapse fluorescence microscopy imaging to examine the kinetics, input encoding, and variability of the Dps response in single cells. In the presence of an oxidative stressor, we observed a single pulse of activation of Dps production. Increased concentrations of H2O2 led to increased intensity and duration of the pulse. While lower concentrations of H2O2 robustly activated the Dps response with little effect on the growth rate, higher concentrations of H2O2 resulted in dramatically lower and highly varied growth rates. A comparison of cells exposed to the same concentration of H2O2 revealed that increased levels of Dps expression did not confer a growth advantage, indicating that recovery from stress may rely primarily upon variation in the amount of damage caused to individual cells.

IMPORTANCE

We show for the first time the response of the DNA-binding protein from starved cells (Dps) to oxidative stress in single cells of E. coli Through time-lapse fluorescence microscopy, a single pulse of Dps production is observed in cells exposed to H2O2, with a duration and intensity of induction proportional to the concentration of the applied stress. More intense Dps expression did not provide a growth benefit to the bacteria, suggesting that healing from oxidative stress may largely depend upon the amount of damage in each individual cell.

Cell-to-Cell Variation in p53 Dynamics Leads to Fractional Killing

Many chemotherapeutic drugs kill only a fraction of cancer cells, limiting their efficacy. We used live-cell imaging to investigate the role of p53 dynamics in fractional killing of colon cancer cells in response to chemotherapy. We found that both surviving and dying cells reach similar levels of p53, indicating that cell death is not determined by a fixed p53 threshold. Instead, a cell's probability of death depends on the time and levels of p53. Cells must reach a threshold level of p53 to execute apoptosis, and this threshold increases with time. The increase in p53 apoptotic threshold is due to drug-dependent induction of anti-apoptotic genes, predominantly in the inhibitors of apoptosis (IAP) family. Our study underlines the importance of measuring the dynamics of key players in response to chemotherapy to determine mechanisms of resistance and optimize the timing of combination therapy.

Coordination of cell decisions and promotion of phenotypic diversity in B. subtilis via pulsed behavior of the phosphorelay

The phosphorelay of Bacillus subtilis, a kinase cascade that activates master regulator Spo0A ~ P in response to starvation signals, is the core of a large network controlling the cell's decision to differentiate into sporulation and other phenotypes. This article reviews recent advances in understanding the origins and purposes of the complex dynamical behavior of the phosphorelay, which pulses with peaks of activity coordinated with the cell cycle. The transient imbalance in the expression of two critical genes caused by their strategic placement at opposing ends of the chromosome proved to be the key for this pulsed behavior. Feedback control loops in the phosphorelay use these pulses to implement a timer mechanism, which creates several windows of opportunity for phenotypic transitions over multiple generations. This strategy allows the cell to coordinate multiple differentiation programs in a decision process that fosters phenotypic diversity and adapts to current conditions.

Salt-sensitivity of σ(H) and Spo0A prevents sporulation of Bacillus subtilis at high osmolarity avoiding death during cellular differentiation

The spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis frequently experiences high osmolarity as a result of desiccation in the soil. The formation of a highly desiccation-resistant endospore might serve as a logical osmostress escape route when vegetative growth is no longer possible. However, sporulation efficiency drastically decreases concomitant with an increase in the external salinity. Fluorescence microscopy of sporulation-specific promoter fusions to gfp revealed that high salinity blocks entry into the sporulation pathway at a very early stage. Specifically, we show that both Spo0A- and SigH-dependent transcription are impaired. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the association of SigH with core RNA polymerase is reduced under these conditions. Suppressors that modestly increase sporulation efficiency at high salinity map to the coding region of sigH and in the regulatory region of kinA, encoding one the sensor kinases that activates Spo0A. These findings led us to discover that B. subtilis cells that overproduce KinA can bypass the salt-imposed block in sporulation. Importantly, these cells are impaired in the morphological process of engulfment and late forespore gene expression and frequently undergo lysis. Altogether our data indicate that B. subtilis blocks entry into sporulation in high-salinity environments preventing commitment to a developmental program that it cannot complete.

Non-Invasive Microbial Metabolic Activity Sensing at Single Cell Level by Perfusion of Calcein Acetoxymethyl Ester

Phase contrast microscopy cannot give sufficient information on bacterial metabolic activity, or if a cell is dead, it has the fate to die or it is in a viable but non-growing state. Thus, a reliable sensing of the metabolic activity helps to distinguish different categories of viability. We present a non-invasive instantaneous sensing method using a fluorogenic substrate for online monitoring of esterase activity and calcein efflux changes in growing wild type bacteria. The fluorescent conversion product of calcein acetoxymethyl ester (CAM) and its efflux indicates the metabolic activity of cells grown under different conditions at real-time. The dynamic conversion of CAM and the active efflux of fluorescent calcein were analyzed by combining microfluidic single cell cultivation technology and fluorescence time lapse microscopy. Thus, an instantaneous and non-invasive sensing method for apparent esterase activity was created without the requirement of genetic modification or harmful procedures. The metabolic activity sensing method consisting of esterase activity and calcein secretion was demonstrated in two applications. Firstly, growing colonies of our model organism Corynebacterium glutamicum were confronted with intermittent nutrient starvation by interrupting the supply of iron and carbon, respectively. Secondly, bacteria were exposed for one hour to fatal concentrations of antibiotics. Bacteria could be distinguished in growing and non-growing cells with metabolic activity as well as non-growing and non-fluorescent cells with no detectable esterase activity. Microfluidic single cell cultivation combined with high temporal resolution time-lapse microscopy facilitated monitoring metabolic activity of stressed cells and analyzing their descendants in the subsequent recovery phase. Results clearly show that the combination of CAM with a sampling free microfluidic approach is a powerful tool to gain insights in the metabolic activity of growing and non-growing bacteria.

Combinatorial gene regulation by modulation of relative pulse timing

Studies of individual living cells have revealed that many transcription factors activate in dynamic, and often stochastic, pulses within the same cell. However, it has remained unclear whether cells might modulate the relative timing of these pulses to control gene expression. Here, using quantitative single-cell time-lapse imaging of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we show that the pulsatile transcription factors Msn2 and Mig1 combinatorially regulate their target genes through modulation of their relative pulse timing. The activator Msn2 and repressor Mig1 pulsed in either a temporally overlapping or non-overlapping manner during their transient response to different inputs, with only the non-overlapping dynamics efficiently activating target gene expression. Similarly, under constant environmental conditions, where Msn2 and Mig1 exhibit sporadic pulsing, glucose concentration modulated the temporal overlap between pulses of the two factors. Together, these results reveal a time-based mode of combinatorial gene regulation. Regulation through relative signal timing is common in engineering and neurobiology, and these results suggest that it could also function broadly within the signaling and regulatory systems of the cell.

Activation of the General Stress Response of Bacillus subtilis by Visible Light

A key challenge for microbiology is to understand how evolution has shaped the wiring of regulatory networks. This is amplified by the paucity of information of power-spectra of physicochemical stimuli to which microorganisms are exposed. Future studies of genome evolution, driven by altered stimulus regimes, will therefore require a versatile signal transduction system that allows accurate signal dosing. Here, we review the general stress response of Bacillus subtilis, and its upstream signal transduction network, as a candidate system. It can be activated by red and blue light, and by many additional stimuli. Signal integration therefore is an intricate function of this system. The blue-light response is elicited via the photoreceptor YtvA, which forms an integral part of stressosomes, to activate expression of the stress regulon of B. subtilis. Signal transfer through this network can be assayed with reporter enzymes, while intermediate steps can be studied with live-cell imaging of fluorescently tagged proteins. Different parts of this system have been studied in vitro, such that its computational modeling has made significant progress. One can directly relate the microscopic characteristics of YtvA with activation of the general stress regulon, making this system a very well-suited system for network evolution studies.

Timing and Variability of Galactose Metabolic Gene Activation Depend on the Rate of Environmental Change

Modulation of gene network activity allows cells to respond to changes in environmental conditions. For example, the galactose utilization network in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is activated by the presence of galactose but repressed by glucose. If both sugars are present, the yeast will first metabolize glucose, depleting it from the extracellular environment. Upon depletion of glucose, the genes encoding galactose metabolic proteins will activate. Here, we show that the rate at which glucose levels are depleted determines the timing and variability of galactose gene activation. Paradoxically, we find that Gal1p, an enzyme needed for galactose metabolism, accumulates more quickly if glucose is depleted slowly rather than taken away quickly. Furthermore, the variability of induction times in individual cells depends non-monotonically on the rate of glucose depletion and exhibits a minimum at intermediate depletion rates. Our mathematical modeling suggests that the dynamics of the metabolic transition from glucose to galactose are responsible for the variability in galactose gene activation. These findings demonstrate that environmental dynamics can determine the phenotypic outcome at both the single-cell and population levels.

Understanding how cells respond to environmental changes is a fundamental question in biology. Such responses are governed by interactions between genes, proteins and other cellular machinery. However, even the responses of genetically identical cells are not identical. Our aim was to examine the origins of this variability using the galactose metabolic network in the baker yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This metabolic network allows yeast to consume galactose once its preferred carbon source, glucose, is depleted. We used microfluidic devices and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy to observe how individual cells respond as glucose is removed from their environment at different rates. We found that the activation of the galactose metabolic network depends on the rate of depletion. Surprisingly, cells start to consume galactose faster when glucose is depleted slowly rather than removed quickly. Furthermore, genetically identical cells can exhibit remarkably different rates of galactose consumption. We provide a simple mathematical model that explains these different observations. These results suggest that dynamic changes of environmental conditions can affect the behavior of both individual cells and the whole population.

The reduction in small ribosomal subunit abundance in ethanol-stressed cells of Bacillus subtilis is mediated by a SigB-dependent antisense RNA

One of the best-characterized general stress responses in bacteria is the σB-mediated stress response of the Gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The σB regulon contains approximately 200 protein-encoding genes and 136 putative regulatory RNAs. One of these σB-dependent RNAs, named S1136-S1134, was recently mapped as being transcribed from the S1136 promoter on the opposite strand of the essential rpsD gene, which encodes the ribosomal primary-binding protein S4. Accordingly, S1136-S1134 transcription results in an rpsD-overlapping antisense RNA (asRNA). Upon exposure of B. subtilis to ethanol, the S1136 promoter was found to be induced, while rpsD transcription was downregulated. By quantitative PCR, we show that the activation of transcription from the S1136 promoter is directly responsible for the downregulation of rpsD upon ethanol exposure. We also show that this downregulation of rpsD leads to a reduced level of the small (30S) ribosomal subunit upon ethanol stress. The activation of the S1136 promoter thus represents the first example of antisense transcription-mediated regulation in the general stress response of B. subtilis and implicates the reduction of ribosomal protein abundance as a new aspect in the σB-dependent stress response. We propose that the observed reduction in the level of the small ribosomal subunit, which contains the ribosome-decoding center, may protect B. subtilis cells against misreading and spurious translation of possibly toxic aberrant peptides under conditions of ethanol stress.

Impact of prenatal environmental stress on cortical development

Prenatal exposure of the developing brain to various types of environmental stress increases susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia. Given that even subtle perturbations by prenatal environmental stress in the cerebral cortex impair the cognitive and memory functions, this review focuses on underlying molecular mechanisms of pathological cortical development. We especially highlight recent works that utilized animal exposure models, human specimens or/and induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells to demonstrate: (1) molecular mechanisms shared by various types of environmental stressors, (2) the mechanisms by which the affected extracortical tissues indirectly impact the cortical development and function, and (3) interaction between prenatal environmental stress and the genetic predisposition of neuropsychiatric disorders. Finally, we discuss current challenges for achieving a comprehensive understanding of the role of environmentally disturbed molecular expressions in cortical maldevelopment, knowledge of which may eventually facilitate discovery of interventions for prenatal environment-linked neuropsychiatric disorders.

Technical bias of microcultivation environments on single-cell physiology

Microscale cultivation systems are important tools to elucidate cellular dynamics beyond the population average and understand the functional architecture of single cells. However, there is scant knowledge about the bias of different microcultivation technologies on cellular functions. We therefore performed a systematic cross-platform comparison of three different microscale cultivation systems commonly harnessed in single-cell analysis: microfluidic non-contact cell traps driven by negative dielectrophoresis, microfluidic monolayer growth chambers, and semi-solid agarose pads. We assessed the specific single-cell growth rates, division rates and morphological characteristics of single Corynebacterium glutamicum cells and microcolonies as a bacterial model organism with medical and biotechnological relevance under standardized growth conditions. Strikingly, the specific single-cell and microcolony growth rates, μmax, were robust and conserved for several cell generations with all three microcultivation technologies, whereas the division rates of cells grown on agarose pads deviated by up to 50% from those of cells cultivated in negative dielectrophoresis traps and monolayer growth chambers. Furthermore, morphological characteristics like cell lengths and division symmetries of individual cells were affected when the cells were grown on agarose pads. This indicated a significant impact of solid cultivation supports on cellular traits. The results demonstrate the impact of microcultivation technology on microbial physiology for the first time and show the need for a careful selection and design of the microcultivation technology in order to allow unbiased analysis of cellular behavior.

How to train your microbe: methods for dynamically characterizing gene networks

Gene networks regulate biological processes dynamically. However, researchers have largely relied upon static perturbations, such as growth media variations and gene knockouts, to elucidate gene network structure and function. Thus, much of the regulation on the path from DNA to phenotype remains poorly understood. Recent studies have utilized improved genetic tools, hardware, and computational control strategies to generate precise temporal perturbations outside and inside of live cells. These experiments have, in turn, provided new insights into the organizing principles of biology. Here, we introduce the major classes of dynamical perturbations that can be used to study gene networks, and discuss technologies available for creating them in a wide range of microbial pathways.

Microbial individuality: how single-cell heterogeneity enables population level strategies

Much of our knowledge of microbial life is only a description of average population behaviours, but modern technologies provide a more inclusive view and reveal that microbes also have individuality. It is now acknowledged that isogenic cell-to-cell heterogeneity is common across organisms and across different biological processes. This heterogeneity can be regulated and functional, rather than just reflecting tolerance to noisy biochemistry. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of microbial heterogeneity, with an emphasis on the pervasiveness of heterogeneity, the mechanisms that sustain it, and how heterogeneity enables collective function.

From intracellular signaling to population oscillations: bridging size- and time-scales in collective behavior

Collective behavior in cellular populations is coordinated by biochemical signaling networks within individual cells. Connecting the dynamics of these intracellular networks to the population phenomena they control poses a considerable challenge because of network complexity and our limited knowledge of kinetic parameters. However, from physical systems, we know that behavioral changes in the individual constituents of a collectively behaving system occur in a limited number of well-defined classes, and these can be described using simple models. Here, we apply such an approach to the emergence of collective oscillations in cellular populations of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Through direct tests of our model with quantitative in vivo measurements of single-cell and population signaling dynamics, we show how a simple model can effectively describe a complex molecular signaling network at multiple size and temporal scales. The model predicts novel noise-driven single-cell and population-level signaling phenomena that we then experimentally observe. Our results suggest that like physical systems, collective behavior in biology may be universal and described using simple mathematical models.

Stress-induced remodeling of the bacterial proteome

Microorganisms live in fluctuating environments, requiring stress response pathways to resist environmental insults and stress. These pathways dynamically monitor cellular status, and mediate adaptive changes by remodeling the proteome, largely accomplished by remodeling transcriptional networks and protein degradation. The complementarity of fast, specific proteolytic degradation and slower, broad transcriptomic changes gives cells the mechanistic repertoire to dynamically adjust cellular processes and optimize response behavior. Together, this enables cells to minimize the 'cost' of the response while maximizing the ability to survive environmental stress. Here we highlight recent progress in our understanding of transcriptional networks and proteolysis that illustrates the design principles used by bacteria to generate the complex behaviors required to resist stress.

NAD(P)H-hydrate dehydratase- a metabolic repair enzyme and its role in Bacillus subtilis stress adaptation

BACKGROUND

One of the strategies for survival stress conditions in bacteria is a regulatory adaptive system called general stress response (GSR), which is dependent on the SigB transcription factor in Bacillus sp. The GSR is one of the largest regulon in Bacillus sp., including about 100 genes; however, most of the genes that show changes in expression during various stresses have not yet been characterized or assigned a biochemical function for the encoded proteins. Previously, we characterized the Bacillus subtilis168 osmosensitive mutant, defective in the yxkO gene (encoding a putative ribokinase), which was recently assigned in vitro as an ADP/ATP-dependent NAD(P)H-hydrate dehydratase and was demonstrated to belong to the SigB operon.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We show the impact of YxkO on the activity of SigB-dependent Pctc promoter and adaptation to osmotic and ethanol stress and potassium limitation respectively. Using a 2DE approach, we compare the proteomes of WT and mutant strains grown under conditions of osmotic and ethanol stress. Both stresses led to changes in the protein level of enzymes that are involved in motility (flagellin), citrate cycle (isocitrate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase), glycolysis (phosphoglycerate kinase), and decomposition of Amadori products (fructosamine-6-phosphate deglycase). Glutamine synthetase revealed a different pattern after osmotic stress. The patterns of enzymes for branched amino acid metabolism and cell wall synthesis (L-alanine dehydrogenase, aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase, ketol-acid reductoisomerase) were altered after ethanol stress.

CONCLUSION

We performed the first characterization of a Bacillus subtilis168 knock-out mutant in the yxkO gene that encodes a metabolite repair enzyme. We show that such enzymes could play a significant role in the survival of stressed cells.

Studying the organization of DNA repair by single-cell and single-molecule imaging

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Single-cell experiments to study stochastic events and heterogeneity in DNA repair.

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Quantifying DNA repair protein concentration, diffusion, and localization in cells.

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Direct observation of DNA repair using photoactivated single-molecule tracking.

DNA repair safeguards the genome against a diversity of DNA damaging agents. Although the mechanisms of many repair proteins have been examined separately in vitro, far less is known about the coordinated function of the whole repair machinery in vivo. Furthermore, single-cell studies indicate that DNA damage responses generate substantial variation in repair activities across cells. This review focuses on fluorescence imaging methods that offer a quantitative description of DNA repair in single cells by measuring protein concentrations, diffusion characteristics, localizations, interactions, and enzymatic rates. Emerging single-molecule and super-resolution microscopy methods now permit direct visualization of individual proteins and DNA repair events in vivo. We expect much can be learned about the organization of DNA repair by linking cell heterogeneity to mechanistic observations at the molecular level.

Genetic evidence for a phosphorylation-independent signal transduction mechanism within the Bacillus subtilis stressosome

The stressosome is a 1.8 MDa cytoplasmic complex that controls diverse bacterial signaling pathways. Its role is best understood in Bacillus subtilis, where it activates the σ^B transcription factor in response to a variety of sharp environmental challenges, including acid, ethanol, heat or salt stress. However, details of the signaling mechanism within the stressosome remain uncertain. The core of the complex comprises one or more members of the RsbR co-antagonist family together with the RsbS antagonist protein, which binds the RsbT kinase in the absence of stress. As part of the response, RsbT first phosphorylates the RsbRA co-antagonist on T171 and then RsbS on S59; this latter event correlates with the stress-induced release of RsbT to activate downstream signaling. Here we examine the in vivo consequence of S59 phosphorylation in a model strain whose stressosome core is formed solely with the RsbRA co-antagonist and RsbS. A phosphorylation-deficient S59A substitution in RsbS blocked response to mild stress but had declining impact as stress increased: with strong ethanol challenge response with S59A was 60% as robust as with wild type RsbS. Genetic analysis narrowed this S59-independent activation to the stressosome and established that significant signaling still occurred in a strain bearing both the T171A and S59A substitutions. We infer that S59 phosphorylation increases signaling efficiency but is not essential, and that a second (or underlying) mechanism of signal transduction prevails in its absence. This interpretation nullifies models in which stressosome signaling is solely mediated by control of RsbT kinase activity toward S59.

The role of low-grade inflammation and metabolic flexibility in aging and nutritional modulation thereof: a systems biology approach

Aging is a biological process characterized by the progressive functional decline of many interrelated physiological systems. In particular, aging is associated with the development of a systemic state of low-grade chronic inflammation (inflammaging), and with progressive deterioration of metabolic function. Systems biology has helped in identifying the mediators and pathways involved in these phenomena, mainly through the application of high-throughput screening methods, valued for their molecular comprehensiveness. Nevertheless, inflammation and metabolic regulation are dynamical processes whose behavior must be understood at multiple levels of biological organization (molecular, cellular, organ, and system levels) and on multiple time scales. Mathematical modeling of such behavior, with incorporation of mechanistic knowledge on interactions between inflammatory and metabolic mediators, may help in devising nutritional interventions capable of preventing, or ameliorating, the age-associated functional decline of the corresponding systems.

Functional roles of pulsing in genetic circuits

A fundamental problem in biology is to understand how genetic circuits implement core cellular functions. Time-lapse microscopy techniques are beginning to provide a direct view of circuit dynamics in individual living cells. Unexpectedly, we are discovering that key transcription and regulatory factors pulse on and off repeatedly, and often stochastically, even when cells are maintained in constant conditions. This type of spontaneous dynamic behavior is pervasive, appearing in diverse cell types from microbes to mammalian cells. Here, we review recent work showing how pulsing is generated and controlled by underlying regulatory circuits and how it provides critical capabilities to cells in stress response, signaling, and development. A major theme is the ability of pulsing to enable time-based regulation analogous to strategies used in engineered systems. Thus, pulsatile dynamics is emerging as a central, and still largely unexplored, layer of temporal organization in the cell.

Asymmetry in erythroid-myeloid differentiation switch and the role of timing in a binary cell-fate decision

GATA1-PU.1 genetic switch is a paradigmatic genetic switch that governs the differentiation of progenitor cells into two different fates, erythroid and myeloid fates. In terms of dynamical model representation of these fates or lineages corresponds to stable attractor and choosing between the attractors. Small asymmetries and stochasticity intrinsically present in all genetic switches lead to the effect of delayed bifurcation which will change the differentiation result according to the timing of the process and affect the proportion of erythroid versus myeloid cells. We consider the differentiation bifurcation scenario in which there is a symmetry-breaking in the bifurcation diagrams as a result of asymmetry in external signaling. We show that the decision between two alternative cell fates in this structurally symmetric decision circuit can be biased depending on the speed at which the system is forced to go through the decision point. The parameter sweeping speed can also reduce the effect of asymmetry and produce symmetric choice between attractors, or convert the favorable attractor. This conversion may have important contributions to the immune system when the bias is in favor of the attractor which gives rise to non-immune cells.

Stress responses of the industrial workhorse Bacillus licheniformis to osmotic challenges

The Gram-positive endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus licheniformis can be found widely in nature and it is exploited in industrial processes for the manufacturing of antibiotics, specialty chemicals, and enzymes. Both in its varied natural habitats and in industrial settings, B. licheniformis cells will be exposed to increases in the external osmolarity, conditions that trigger water efflux, impair turgor, cause the cessation of growth, and negatively affect the productivity of cell factories in biotechnological processes. We have taken here both systems-wide and targeted physiological approaches to unravel the core of the osmostress responses of B. licheniformis. Cells were suddenly subjected to an osmotic upshift of considerable magnitude (with 1 M NaCl), and their transcriptional profile was then recorded in a time-resolved fashion on a genome-wide scale. A bioinformatics cluster analysis was used to group the osmotically up-regulated genes into categories that are functionally associated with the synthesis and import of osmostress-relieving compounds (compatible solutes), the SigB-controlled general stress response, and genes whose functional annotation suggests that salt stress triggers secondary oxidative stress responses in B. licheniformis. The data set focusing on the transcriptional profile of B. licheniformis was enriched by proteomics aimed at identifying those proteins that were accumulated by the cells through increased biosynthesis in response to osmotic stress. Furthermore, these global approaches were augmented by a set of experiments that addressed the synthesis of the compatible solutes proline and glycine betaine and assessed the growth-enhancing effects of various osmoprotectants. Combined, our data provide a blueprint of the cellular adjustment processes of B. licheniformis to both sudden and sustained osmotic stress.

Genome-wide effects of selenium and translational uncoupling on transcription in the termite gut symbiont Treponema primitia

When prokaryotic cells acquire mutations, encounter translation-inhibiting substances, or experience adverse environmental conditions that limit their ability to synthesize proteins, transcription can become uncoupled from translation. Such uncoupling is known to suppress transcription of protein-encoding genes in bacteria. Here we show that the trace element selenium controls transcription of the gene for the selenocysteine-utilizing enzyme formate dehydrogenase (fdhF_Sec) through a translation-coupled mechanism in the termite gut symbiont Treponema primitia, a member of the bacterial phylum Spirochaetes. We also evaluated changes in genome-wide transcriptional patterns caused by selenium limitation and by generally uncoupling translation from transcription via antibiotic-mediated inhibition of protein synthesis. We observed that inhibiting protein synthesis in T. primitia influences transcriptional patterns in unexpected ways. In addition to suppressing transcription of certain genes, the expected consequence of inhibiting protein synthesis, we found numerous examples in which transcription of genes and operons is truncated far downstream from putative promoters, is unchanged, or is even stimulated overall. These results indicate that gene regulation in bacteria allows for specific post-initiation transcriptional responses during periods of limited protein synthesis, which may depend both on translational coupling and on unclassified intrinsic elements of protein-encoding genes.

A large body of literature demonstrates that the coupling of transcription and translation is a general and essential method by which bacteria regulate gene expression levels. However, the potential role of noncanonical amino acids in regulating transcriptional output via translational control remains, for the most part, undefined. Furthermore, the genome-wide transcriptional state in response to translational decoupling is not well quantified. The results presented here suggest that the noncanonical amino acid selenocysteine is able to tune transcription of an important metabolic gene via translational coupling. Furthermore, a genome-wide analysis reveals that transcriptional decoupling produces a wide-ranging effect and that this effect is not uniform. These results exemplify how growth conditions that impact translational processivity can rapidly feed back on transcriptional productivity of prespecified groups of genes, providing bacteria with an efficient response to environmental changes.

The γ-aminobutyrate permease GabP serves as the third proline transporter of Bacillus subtilis

PutP and OpuE serve as proline transporters when this imino acid is used by Bacillus subtilis as a nutrient or as an osmostress protectant, respectively. The simultaneous inactivation of the PutP and OpuE systems still allows the utilization of proline as a nutrient. This growth phenotype pointed to the presence of a third proline transport system in B. subtilis. We took advantage of the sensitivity of a putP opuE double mutant to the toxic proline analog 3,4-dehydro-dl-proline (DHP) to identify this additional proline uptake system. DHP-resistant mutants were selected and found to be defective in the use of proline as a nutrient. Whole-genome resequencing of one of these strains provided the lead that the inactivation of the γ-aminobutyrate (GABA) transporter GabP was responsible for these phenotypes. DNA sequencing of the gabP gene in 14 additionally analyzed DHP-resistant strains confirmed this finding. Consistently, each of the DHP-resistant mutants was defective not only in the use of proline as a nutrient but also in the use of GABA as a nitrogen source. The same phenotype resulted from the targeted deletion of the gabP gene in a putP opuE mutant strain. Hence, the GabP carrier not only serves as an uptake system for GABA but also functions as the third proline transporter of B. subtilis. Uptake studies with radiolabeled GABA and proline confirmed this conclusion and provided information on the kinetic parameters of the GabP carrier for both of these substrates.

Coordination of bacterial proteome with metabolism by cyclic AMP signalling

The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent catabolite repression effect in Escherichia coli is among the most intensely studied regulatory processes in biology. However, the physiological function(s) of cAMP signalling and its molecular triggers remain elusive. Here we use a quantitative physiological approach to show that cAMP signalling tightly coordinates the expression of catabolic proteins with biosynthetic and ribosomal proteins, in accordance with the cellular metabolic needs during exponential growth. The expression of carbon catabolic genes increased linearly with decreasing growth rates upon limitation of carbon influx, but decreased linearly with decreasing growth rate upon limitation of nitrogen or sulphur influx. In contrast, the expression of biosynthetic genes showed the opposite linear growth-rate dependence as the catabolic genes. A coarse-grained mathematical model provides a quantitative framework for understanding and predicting gene expression responses to catabolic and anabolic limitations. A scheme of integral feedback control featuring the inhibition of cAMP signalling by metabolic precursors is proposed and validated. These results reveal a key physiological role of cAMP-dependent catabolite repression: to ensure that proteomic resources are spent on distinct metabolic sectors as needed in different nutrient environments. Our findings underscore the power of quantitative physiology in unravelling the underlying functions of complex molecular signalling networks.