SpoT has a key role in the bacterial starvation response. Now the metazoan ortholog of SpoT, Mesh1, has been identified, and the structure reveals a conserved active site that can catalyze ppGpp hydrolysis. The Drosophila Mesh1 deletion mutant has impaired starvation resistance, and microarray analysis gives further insight into the starvation response.
- Dawei Sun
- Gina Lee
- Jongkyeong Chung