Analysis of the RC Function

In the decade since Stent and Brenner discovered the RC gene (Stent and Brenner, 1961), a number of theories about its function have come and gone, while the facts have grown steadily more complicated. One seeming complication has been mounting evidence that the RC function is involved in metabolism. The RC+ (or “stringent”) response to amino acid starvation brings about a general pattern of metabolic inhibition, reducing the rates of biosynthesis of nucleotides (Edlin and Neuhard, 1967; Gallant and Cashel, 1967; Cashel and Gallant, 1968; Irr and Gallant, 1969), glycolytic esters (Irr and Gallant, 1969), and lipids (Sokawa, Nakao, and Kaziro, 1968), and blocking the uptake of assorted exogenous metabolites (Edlin and Neuhard, 1967; Sokawa and Kaziro, 1969).