ISOLATION OF A CARBON STARVATION REGULATORY MUTANT IN A MARINE VIBRIOSTRAIN

A carbon starvation-responding lac fusion of the marine Vibrio sp, str ain S14 was used as a reporter strain in order to identify genes criti cal in the regulation of the carbon starvation response. Interestingly , Sequence data together with an altered phenotype with respect to the accumulation of guanosine 3',5'-bispyrophosphate (PPGpp) imply that o ne of the genes (csrS) identified by this approach is an Escherichia c oli spoT equivalent. Complementary data suggest that the function enco ded by the csrS gene is essential for the successful development of st arvation and stress resistance.