Alarmone is an
intracellular signal molecule that is produced due to harsh
environmental factors. They regulate the
gene expression at transcription level. Alarmones are produced in high concentrations when harsh environmental factors occur in
bacteria and
plants, such as lack of
amino acids to produce
proteins. Stringent factors take uncharged
tRNA and convert it to an alarmone.
Guanosine-5'-triphosphate (GTP) is then converted to 5´-diphosphate 3´-diphosphate guanosine (
ppGpp), the archetypical alarmone. ppGpp will bind to RNA polymerase ß and ß´subunits, changing promoter preference. It will decrease rRNA and other genes transcription but will increase transcription of genes involved in aminoacid biosynthesis and metabolisms involved in famine.