scholarly journals Rules and Exceptions: The Role of Chromosomal ParB in DNA Segregation and Other Cellular Processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kawalek ◽  
Pawel Wawrzyniak ◽  
Aneta Agnieszka Bartosik ◽  
Grazyna Jagura-Burdzy

The segregation of newly replicated chromosomes in bacterial cells is a highly coordinated spatiotemporal process. In the majority of bacterial species, a tripartite ParAB-parS system, composed of an ATPase (ParA), a DNA-binding protein (ParB), and its target(s) parS sequence(s), facilitates the initial steps of chromosome partitioning. ParB nucleates around parS(s) located in the vicinity of newly replicated oriCs to form large nucleoprotein complexes, which are subsequently relocated by ParA to distal cellular compartments. In this review, we describe the role of ParB in various processes within bacterial cells, pointing out interspecies differences. We outline recent progress in understanding the ParB nucleoprotein complex formation and its role in DNA segregation, including ori positioning and anchoring, DNA condensation, and loading of the structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) proteins. The auxiliary roles of ParBs in the control of chromosome replication initiation and cell division, as well as the regulation of gene expression, are discussed. Moreover, we catalog ParB interacting proteins. Overall, this work highlights how different bacterial species adapt the DNA partitioning ParAB-parS system to meet their specific requirements.

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (4) ◽  
pp. 1326-1337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philina S. Lee ◽  
Daniel Chi-Hong Lin ◽  
Shigeki Moriya ◽  
Alan D. Grossman

ABSTRACT Spo0J (ParB) of Bacillus subtilis is a DNA-binding protein that belongs to a conserved family of proteins required for efficient plasmid and chromosome partitioning in many bacterial species. We found that Spo0J contributes to the positioning of the chromosomal oriC region, but probably not by recruiting the origin regions to specific subcellular locations. In wild-type cells during exponential growth, duplicated origin regions were generally positioned around the cell quarters. In a spo0J null mutant, sister origin regions were often closer together, nearer to midcell. We found, by using a Spo0J-green fluorescent protein [GFP] fusion, that the subcellular location of Spo0J was a consequence of the chromosomal positions of the Spo0J binding sites. When an array of binding sites (parS sites) were inserted at various chromosomal locations in the absence of six of the eight known parS sites, Spo0J-GFP was no longer found predominantly at the cell quarters, indicating that Spo0J is not sufficient to recruit chromosomal parS sites to the cell quarters. spo0J also affected chromosome positioning during sporulation. A spo0J null mutant showed an increase in the number of cells with some origin-distal regions located in the forespore. In addition, a spo0J null mutation caused an increase in the number of foci per cell of LacI-GFP bound to arrays of lac operators inserted in various positions in the chromosome, including the origin region, an increase in the DNA-protein ratio, and an increase in origins per cell, as determined by flow cytometry. These results indicate that the spo0J mutant produced a significant proportion of cells with increased chromosome content, probably due to increased and asynchronous initiation of DNA replication.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangbing Li ◽  
Haohai Zhang ◽  
Xueshuai Wan ◽  
Xiaobo Yang ◽  
Chengpei Zhu ◽  
...  

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been attracting immense research interests. However, only a handful of lncRNAs had been thoroughly characterized. They were involved in fundamental cellular processes including regulation of gene expression at epigenetics as well as tumorogenesis. In this paper, we give a systematic and comprehensive review of existing literature about lncRNA involvement in hepatocellular carcinoma. This review exhibited that lncRNAs played important roles in tumorigenesis and subsequent prognosis and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma and elucidated the role of some specific lncRNAs such as MALAT1 and HOTAIR in the pathophysiology of hepatocellular carcinoma and their potential of being therapeutic targets.


2006 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 888-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rut Carballido-López

SUMMARY Recent advances have shown conclusively that bacterial cells possess distant but true homologues of actin (MreB, ParM, and the recently uncovered MamK protein). Despite weak amino acid sequence similarity, MreB and ParM exhibit high structural homology to actin. Just like F-actin in eukaryotes, MreB and ParM assemble into highly dynamic filamentous structures in vivo and in vitro. MreB-like proteins are essential for cell viability and have been implicated in major cellular processes, including cell morphogenesis, chromosome segregation, and cell polarity. ParM (a plasmid-encoded actin homologue) is responsible for driving plasmid-DNA partitioning. The dynamic prokaryotic actin-like cytoskeleton is thought to serve as a central organizer for the targeting and accurate positioning of proteins and nucleoprotein complexes, thereby (and by analogy to the eukaryotic cytoskeleton) spatially and temporally controlling macromolecular trafficking in bacterial cells. In this paper, the general properties and known functions of the actin orthologues in bacteria are reviewed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Botti ◽  
Giosuè Scognamiglio ◽  
Gabriella Aquino ◽  
Giuseppina Liguori ◽  
Monica Cantile

lncRNAs participate in many cellular processes, including regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. In addition, many lncRNAs can contribute to the development of different human diseases including cancer. The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an important role during tumor growth and metastatic progression, and most of these lncRNAs have a key function in TME intracellular signaling. Among the numerous identified lncRNAs, several experimental evidences have shown the fundamental role of the lncRNA HOTAIR in carcinogenesis, also highlighting its use as a circulating biomarker. In this review we described the contribution of HOTAIR in the TME modulation, highlighting its relation with cellular and non-cellular components during tumor evolution and progression.


2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 8167-8178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra R. Mey ◽  
Elizabeth E. Wyckoff ◽  
Vanamala Kanukurthy ◽  
Carolyn R. Fisher ◽  
Shelley M. Payne

ABSTRACT Regulation of iron uptake and utilization is critical for bacterial growth and for prevention of iron toxicity. In many bacterial species, this regulation depends on the iron-responsive master regulator Fur. In this study we report the effects of iron and Fur on gene expression in Vibrio cholerae. We show that Fur has both positive and negative regulatory functions, and we demonstrate Fur-independent regulation of gene expression by iron. Nearly all of the known iron acquisition genes were repressed by Fur under iron-replete conditions. In addition, genes for two newly identified iron transport systems, Feo and Fbp, were found to be negatively regulated by iron and Fur. Other genes identified in this study as being induced in low iron and in the fur mutant include those encoding superoxide dismutase (sodA), fumarate dehydratase (fumC), bacterioferritin (bfr), bacterioferritin-associated ferredoxin (bfd), and multiple genes of unknown function. Several genes encoding iron-containing proteins were repressed in low iron and in the fur mutant, possibly reflecting the need to reserve available iron for the most critical functions. Also repressed in the fur mutant, but independently of iron, were genes located in the V. cholerae pathogenicity island, encoding the toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP), and genes within the V. cholerae mega-integron. The fur mutant exhibited very weak autoagglutination, indicating a possible defect in expression or assembly of the TCP, a major virulence factor of V. cholerae. Consistent with this observation, the fur mutant competed poorly with its wild-type parental strain for colonization of the infant mouse gut.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald W. Tannock

The human bowel contains a large and biodiverse bacterial community known as the microbiota or microbiome. It seems likely that the microbiota, fractions of the microbiota, or specific species comprising the microbiota provide the antigenic fuel that drives the chronic immune inflammation of the bowel mucosa that is characteristic of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. At least twenty years of microbiological research have been expended on analysis of the composition of the bowel microbiota of inflammatory bowel disease patients in comparison to that of control subjects. Despite extensive speculations about the aetiological role of dysbiosis in inflammatory bowel diseases, knowledge that can be easily translated into effective remedies for patients has not eventuated. The causes of this failure may be due to poorly defined and executed bacteriological studies, as well as the overwhelming complexity of a biome that contains hundreds of bacterial species and trillions of bacterial cells.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (12) ◽  
pp. 4431-4441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinhong Wang ◽  
Elena A. Mordukhova ◽  
Andrea L. Edwards ◽  
Valentin V. Rybenkov

ABSTRACT MukBEF is a bacterial SMC (structural maintenance of chromosome) complex required for chromosome partitioning in Escherichia coli. We report that overproduction of MukBEF results in marked chromosome condensation. This condensation is rapid and precedes the effects of overproduction on macromolecular synthesis. Condensed nucleoids are often mispositioned; however, cell viability is only mildly affected. The overproduction of MukB leads to a similar chromosome condensation, even in the absence of MukE and MukF. Thus, the non-SMC subunits of MukBEF play only an auxiliary role in chromosome condensation. MukBEF, however, was often a better condensin than MukB. Furthermore, the chromosome condensation by MukB did not rescue the temperature sensitivity of MukEF-deficient cells, nor did it suppress the high frequency of anucleate cell formation. We infer that the role of MukBEF in stabilizing chromatin architecture is more versatile than its role in controlling chromosome size. We further propose that MukBEF could be directly involved in chromosome segregation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. BIC.S33376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anagh A. Sahasrabuddhe

BMI1 oncogene is a catalytic member of epigenetic repressor polycomb group proteins. It plays a critical role in the regulation of gene expression pattern and consequently several cellular processes during development, including cell cycle progression, senescence, aging, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and importantly self-renewal of adult stem cells of several lineages. Preponderance of evidences indicates that deregulated expression of PcG protein BMI1 is associated with several human malignancies, cancer stem cell maintenance, and propagation. Importantly, overexpression of BMI1 correlates with therapy failure in cancer patients and tumor relapse. This review discusses the diverse mode of BMI1 regulation at transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and posttranslational levels as well as at various critical signaling pathways regulated by BMI1 activity. Furthermore, this review highlights the role of BMI1 as a biomarker and therapeutic target for several subtypes of hematologic malignancies and the importance to target this biomarker for therapeutic applications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anis Meschichi ◽  
Mathieu Ingouff ◽  
Claire Picart ◽  
Marie Mirouze ◽  
Sophie Desset ◽  
...  

Together with local chromatin structure, gene accessibility, and the presence of transcription factors, gene positioning is implicated in gene expression regulation. Although the basic mechanisms are expected to be conserved in eukaryotes, less is known about the role of gene positioning in plant cells, mainly due to the lack of a highly resolutive approach. In this study, we adapted the use of the ANCHOR system to perform real-time single locus detection in planta. ANCHOR is a DNA-labeling tool derived from the chromosome partitioning system found in many bacterial species. We demonstrated its suitability to monitor a single locus in planta and used this approach to track chromatin mobility during cell differentiation in Arabidopsis thaliana root epidermal cells. Finally, we discussed the potential of this approach to investigate the role of gene positioning during transcription and DNA repair in plants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaisy Pacheco ◽  
Ana Érika Inácio Gomes ◽  
Nathália Maria Gonçalves Siqueira ◽  
Lucas Assoni ◽  
Michelle Darrieux ◽  
...  

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative pathogen that has become a worldwide concern due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant isolates responsible for various invasive infectious diseases. Biofilm formation constitutes a major virulence factor for K. pneumoniae and relies on the expression of fimbrial adhesins and aggregation of bacterial cells on biotic or abiotic surfaces in a coordinated manner. During biofilm aggregation, bacterial cells communicate with each other through inter- or intra-species interactions mediated by signallng molecules, called autoinducers, in a mechanism known as quorum sensing (QS). In most Gram-negative bacteria, intra-species communication typically involves the LuxI/LuxR system: LuxI synthase produces N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) as autoinducers and the LuxR transcription factor is their cognate receptor. However, K. pneumoniae does not produce AHL but encodes SdiA, an orphan LuxR-type receptor that responds to exogenous AHL molecules produced by other bacterial species. While SdiA regulates several cellular processes and the expression of virulence factors in many pathogens, the role of this regulator in K. pneumoniae remains unknown. In this study, we describe the characterization of sdiA mutant strain of K. pneumoniae. The sdiA mutant strain has increased biofilm formation, which correlates with the increased expression of type 1 fimbriae, thus revealing a repressive role of SdiA in fimbriae expression and bacterial cell adherence and aggregation. On the other hand, SdiA acts as a transcriptional activator of cell division machinery assembly in the septum, since cells lacking SdiA regulator exhibited a filamentary shape rather than the typical rod shape. We also show that K. pneumoniae cells lacking SdiA regulator present constant production of QS autoinducers at maximum levels, suggesting a putative role for SdiA in the regulation of AI-2 production. Taken together, our results demonstrate that SdiA regulates cell division and the expression of virulence factors such as fimbriae expression, biofilm formation, and production of QS autoinducers in K. pneumoniae.


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