[Introduction to the biology of the bacterial stationary phase: mechanism of general response to stress].

This review is devoted to the biology of stationary-phase bacteria, occurring in a specific physiological state at which they arrive in the process of complex response to various kinds of stresses accompanying the retardation and cessation of growth and reproduction. A general account of the problem is presented. Special emphasis is placed on one of the metabolic mechanisms involved in the formation of the physiological state of stationary-phase bacteria and performing primarily protective functions (the so-called general response of cells to stresses). The relationship between this and other regulatory mechanisms involved in the transition of bacteria to the stationary phase and the maintenance of this phase is discussed.