SHORTAGE OF NUTRIENTS IN BACTERIA - THE STRINGENT RESPONSE

In nature, bacteria adopt different strategics to survive for long per iod under hostile conditions. When nutrients are limiting, it appears now that there may be a common pathway which controls the maintenance of a dormant stage in bacteria till fresh nutrients are available agai n. Stringent response is one of the many responses that bacteria exhib it faced with nutrient starvation, characterized by the production of nucleotide polyphosphate and arrest in stable RNA synthesis, The commo nality of mechanism in stringent response in bacteria and the importan ce of dormant stage biology of pathogenic microorganism have generated a lot of interest in recent time and form the base of this review.