Control of and synthesis in Lactobacillus acidophilus Role of RNA and free amino acids.

In Lactobacillus acidophilus, the DNA synthesis in cells incubated in the absence of essential amino acids reaches levels corresponding to the initiation of further replication cycles than just to completing the cycles already running. This "relaxation of DNA synthesis" is stimulated by the presence of inhibitors of protein synthesis and by the presence of deoxyadenylate. These enhancements of DNA replication are cancelled by actinomycin D. In the presence of inhibitors of protein synthesis, the relaxtion of DNA synthesis is further stimulated by free amino acids. The effect of free amino acids, unlike in the former cases, is not inhibited by actinomycin D. It proposed that the chromosome replication in Lactobacillus acidophilus is regulated similarly as in some plasmids, i.e. independently of the synthesis of protein, depending on the synthesis of RNA and, in addition, on the presence of free amino acids.