scholarly journals Dissecting the control mechanisms for DNA replication and cell division in E. coli

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Micali ◽  
Jacopo Grilli ◽  
Jacopo Marchi ◽  
Matteo Osella ◽  
Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino

Understanding how single E. coli cells coordinate the timing of cell division with genome replication would unlock a classic problem of biology, and open the way to address cell-cycle progression at the single-cell level. Several recent studies produced new data and proposed different models, based on the hypothesis that replication-segregation is the bottleneck process for cell division. However, due to the apparent contrast in both experimental results and proposed mechanisms, the emerging picture is fragmented and unclear. In this work, we re-evaluate jointly available data and models, and we show that, while each model contains useful insights, none of the proposed models, as well as generalizations based on the same assumptions, correctly describes all the correlation patterns observed in data. This analysis leads us to conclude that the assumption that replication is the bottleneck process for cell division is too restrictive. Instead, we propose that two concurrent cycles responsible for division and initiation of DNA replication together set the time of cell division. This framework correctly captures available data and allows us to select a nearly constant added size per origin between subsequent initiations as the most likely mechanism setting initiation of replication.

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela E. Sharpe ◽  
Philippe M. Hauser ◽  
Robert G. Sharpe ◽  
Jeffery Errington

ABSTRACT Fluorescence microscopic methods have been used to characterize the cell cycle of Bacillus subtilis at four different growth rates. The data obtained have been used to derive models for cell cycle progression. Like that of Escherichia coli, the period required by B. subtilis for chromosome replication at 37°C was found to be fairly constant (although a little longer, at about 55 min), as was the cell mass at initiation of DNA replication. The cell cycle of B. subtilis differed from that ofE. coli in that changes in growth rate affected the average cell length but not the width and also in the relative variability of period between termination of DNA replication and septation. Overall movement of the nucleoid was found to occur smoothly, as in E. coli, but other aspects of nucleoid behavior were consistent with an underlying active partitioning machinery. The models for cell cycle progression in B. subtilis should facilitate the interpretation of data obtained from the recently introduced cytological methods for imaging the assembly and movement of proteins involved in cell cycle dynamics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 202 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter E. Burby ◽  
Lyle A. Simmons

ABSTRACT All organisms regulate cell cycle progression by coordinating cell division with DNA replication status. In eukaryotes, DNA damage or problems with replication fork progression induce the DNA damage response (DDR), causing cyclin-dependent kinases to remain active, preventing further cell cycle progression until replication and repair are complete. In bacteria, cell division is coordinated with chromosome segregation, preventing cell division ring formation over the nucleoid in a process termed nucleoid occlusion. In addition to nucleoid occlusion, bacteria induce the SOS response after replication forks encounter DNA damage or impediments that slow or block their progression. During SOS induction, Escherichia coli expresses a cytoplasmic protein, SulA, that inhibits cell division by directly binding FtsZ. After the SOS response is turned off, SulA is degraded by Lon protease, allowing for cell division to resume. Recently, it has become clear that SulA is restricted to bacteria closely related to E. coli and that most bacteria enforce the DNA damage checkpoint by expressing a small integral membrane protein. Resumption of cell division is then mediated by membrane-bound proteases that cleave the cell division inhibitor. Further, many bacterial cells have mechanisms to inhibit cell division that are regulated independently from the canonical LexA-mediated SOS response. In this review, we discuss several pathways used by bacteria to prevent cell division from occurring when genome instability is detected or before the chromosome has been fully replicated and segregated.


Cell Reports ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 761-771.e4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Micali ◽  
Jacopo Grilli ◽  
Jacopo Marchi ◽  
Matteo Osella ◽  
Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino

2010 ◽  
Vol 192 (15) ◽  
pp. 3893-3902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio A. Iniesta ◽  
Nathan J. Hillson ◽  
Lucy Shapiro

ABSTRACT Caulobacter crescentus initiates a single round of DNA replication during each cell cycle. Following the initiation of DNA replication, the essential CckA histidine kinase is activated by phosphorylation, which (via the ChpT phosphotransferase) enables the phosphorylation and activation of the CtrA global regulator. CtrA∼P then blocks the reinitiation of replication while regulating the transcription of a large number of cell cycle-controlled genes. It has been shown that DNA replication serves as a checkpoint for flagellar biosynthesis and cell division and that this checkpoint is mediated by the availability of active CtrA. Because CckA∼P promotes the activation of CtrA, we addressed the question of what controls the temporal activation of CckA. We found that the initiation of DNA replication is a prerequisite for remodeling the new cell pole, which includes the localization of the DivL protein kinase to that pole and, consequently, the localization, autophosphorylation, and activation of CckA at that pole. Thus, CckA activation is dependent on polar remodeling and a DNA replication initiation checkpoint that is tightly integrated with the polar phospho-signaling cascade governing cell cycle progression.


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1627-1638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritu Pathak ◽  
Lydia M. Bogomolnaya ◽  
Jinbai Guo ◽  
Michael Polymenis

ABSTRACT How cells determine when to initiate DNA replication is poorly understood. Here we report that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae overexpression of the dosage-dependent cell cycle regulator genes DCR2 (YLR361C) and GID8 (DCR1/YMR135C) accelerates initiation of DNA replication. Cells lacking both GID8 and DCR2 delay initiation of DNA replication. Genetic analysis suggests that Gid8p functions upstream of Dcr2p to promote cell cycle progression. DCR2 is predicted to encode a gene product with phosphoesterase activity. Consistent with these predictions, a DCR2 allele carrying a His338 point mutation, which in known protein phosphatases prevents catalysis but allows substrate binding, antagonized the function of the wild-type DCR2 allele. Finally, we report genetic interactions involving GID8, DCR2, and CLN3 (which encodes a G1 cyclin) or SWI4 (which encodes a transcription factor of the G1/S transcription program). Our findings identify two gene products with a probable regulatory role in the timing of initiation of cell division.


2019 ◽  
Vol 218 (12) ◽  
pp. 3892-3902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bennie Lemmens ◽  
Arne Lindqvist

The core function of the cell cycle is to duplicate the genome and divide the duplicated DNA into two daughter cells. These processes need to be carefully coordinated, as cell division before DNA replication is complete leads to genome instability and cell death. Recent observations show that DNA replication, far from being only a consequence of cell cycle progression, plays a key role in coordinating cell cycle activities. DNA replication, through checkpoint kinase signaling, restricts the activity of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) that promote cell division. The S/G2 transition is therefore emerging as a crucial regulatory step to determine the timing of mitosis. Here we discuss recent observations that redefine the coupling between DNA replication and cell division and incorporate these insights into an updated cell cycle model for human cells. We propose a cell cycle model based on a single trigger and sequential releases of three molecular brakes that determine the kinetics of CDK activation.


1997 ◽  
Vol 110 (19) ◽  
pp. 2345-2357 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Battistoni ◽  
G. Guarguaglini ◽  
F. Degrassi ◽  
C. Pittoggi ◽  
A. Palena ◽  
...  

RanBP1 is a molecular partner of the Ran GTPase, which is implicated in the control of several processes, including DNA replication, mitotic entry and exit, cell cycle progression, nuclear structure, protein import and RNA export. While most genes encoding Ran-interacting partners are constitutively active, transcription of the RanBP1 mRNA is repressed in non proliferating cells, is activated at the G1/S transition in cycling cells and peaks during S phase. We report here that forced expression of the RanBP1 gene disrupts the orderly execution of the cell division cycle at several stages, causing inhibition of DNA replication, defective mitotic exit and failure of chromatin decondensation during the telophase-to-interphase transition in cells that achieve nuclear duplication and chromosome segregation. These results suggest that deregulated RanBP1 activity interferes with the Ran GTPase cycle and prevents the functioning of the Ran signalling system during the cell cycle.


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