Methanotrophs are bacteria that get their energy from methane, using it to promote cell growth and produce important proteins and biopolymers. In order to increase the efficiency of methane usage to make commercial production viable, we investigated the possibility of modifying M.capsulatus with the E.coli RelA enzyme. RelA triggers the stringent response in E.coli, a cellular response that inhibits growth based upon nutritional stress, and leads the gene expression to change to conserve the organism. The goal of this project is to mirror the stringent response in M.capsulatus by limiting the methanotroph growth and diverting methane input to creating products.