The Bacillus subtilis soj‐spo0J locus is required for a centromere‐like function involved in prespore chromosome partitioning

Sharpe, Michaela; Errington, Jeff

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.1996.tb02559.x

Cited by 139 publications

(162 citation statements)

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“…Recently, important progress has been made in the understanding of the active chromosomal segregation process in vegetative and sporulating B. subtilis cells (Ireton et al, 1994;Sharpe and Errington, 1996;Glaser et al, 1997;Lin et al, 1997;Webb et al, 1997). It has been shown that 30% of the chromosome containing oriC has a centromere-like function that, during binary fission and sporulation, migrates actively towards the cell poles (Sharpe and Errington, 1996;Wu and Errington, 1994;Glaser et al, 1997;Webb et al, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been shown that 30% of the chromosome containing oriC has a centromere-like function that, during binary fission and sporulation, migrates actively towards the cell poles (Sharpe and Errington, 1996;Wu and Errington, 1994;Glaser et al, 1997;Webb et al, 1997). Because accurate segregation is affected in spoOJ mutant strains (Ireton et al, 1994;Sharpe and Errington, 1996), the SpoOJ protein was a prime candidate for being involved in the chromosomal segregation process. Using in vivo cross-linking techniques, the SpoOJ protein was recently shown to be associated with short DNA sequences containing the same DSE (Lin and Grossman, 1998) that is repeatedly present in the 29 genome.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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DNA polymerase template switching at specific sites on the φ29 genome causes the in vivo accumulation of subgenomic φ29 DNA molecules

Murthy

Meijer

Blanco

et al. 1998

Molecular Microbiology

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SummaryThe accumulation of subgenomic phage 29 DNA molecules with specific sizes was observed after prolonged infection times with delayed lysis phage mutants. Whereas the majority of the molecules had a size of 4 kb, additional DNA species were observed with sizes of 8.2, 6.5, 2.3, 2 and 1 kb. Most of the molecules were shown to originate from the right end of the linear Bacillus subtilis phage 29 genome. The nature of the 4, 2.3, 2 and 1 kb molecules was studied. The 2 kb molecules were shown to be single-stranded self-complementary strands forming hairpin structures. The other molecules consisted of palindromic linear double-stranded DNA molecules. Most probably, the subgenomic DNA molecules were formed when the moving phage replication fork from the right origin encountered a block that induces the DNA polymerase to switch template. Once formed, the subgenomic molecules are then amplified in vivo. Determination of the centres of symmetry of the 4 and 1 kb molecules revealed that both contained the almost 16 bp perfect dyad symmetry element (DSE): 5Ј-TGTTtCAC-GTGg-AACA-3Ј being a likely candidate for a protein binding site. Database analysis showed that this sequence occurs four times in the 29 genome. In addition, the almost identical sequence 5Ј-TgGTTTCAC-GTGGAAt-CA-3Ј was found once. These five DSEs are all located in the right half of the 29 genome, and the same sequences are also present in the linear DNA of related B. subtilis phages. Most interestingly, this sequence is also found in the spoOJ gene of the B. subtilis chromosome. Recently, it has been shown that the SpoOJ protein is associated in vivo with the same DSE. As the same subgenomic 29 DNA molecules accumulate after infection of B. subtilis spoOJ deletion strains, it is likely that, in addition to and/or independently of SpoOJ, other protein(s) bind to DSE.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA polymerase template switching at specific sites on the φ29 genome causes the in vivo accumulation of subgenomic φ29 DNA molecules

Murthy

Meijer

Blanco

et al. 1998

Molecular Microbiology

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“…Prespore-compartment-specific gene expression assays in B. subtilis show that spo0J mutants have defects in the orientation of the prespore chromosome (Sharpe & Errington 1996), suggesting that Spo0J is involved in the spatial organization of the origin proximal regions of the chromosome. However, Spo0J is not required for proper positioning or movement of the oriC region in B. subtilis during vegetative growth (Webb et al 1998).…”

Section: Par Proteins Encoded By Bacterial Chromosomes-components Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, null mutants of ParB are lethal in Caulobacter crescentus (Mohl et al 2001), and mutations in spo0J in B. subtilis result in the formation of up to 3% anucleate cells (Ireton et al 1994). Spo0J/ParB mutants of B. subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are viable but display perceptible defects in chromosome segregation in both vegetative and sporulating cells (Godfrin-Estevenon et al 2002;Ireton et al 1994;Lewis et al 2002;Sharpe & Errington 1996). During vegetative growth, deletion of the parAB genes of Pseudomonas putida slightly increases the formation of anucleate cells, but during both the transition from exponential to stationary growth conditions and during overexpression of parAB, high levels of anucleate cells were formed (Godfrin-Estevenon et al 2002).…”

Section: Par Proteins Encoded By Bacterial Chromosomes-components Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards understanding the molecular basis of bacterial DNA segregation

Leonard

Møller‐Jensen

Löwe

2005

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Bacteria ensure the fidelity of genetic inheritance by the coordinated control of chromosome segregation and cell division. Here, we review the molecules and mechanisms that govern the correct subcellular positioning and rapid separation of newly replicated chromosomes and plasmids towards the cell poles and, significantly, the emergence of mitotic-like machineries capable of segregating plasmid DNA. We further describe surprising similarities between proteins involved in DNA partitioning (ParA/ParB) and control of cell division (MinD/MinE), suggesting a mechanism for intracellular positioning common to the two processes. Finally, we discuss the role that the bacterial cytoskeleton plays in DNA partitioning and the missing link between prokaryotes and eukaryotes that is bacterial mechano-chemical motor proteins.

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“…Another gene involved in DNA segregation in B. subtilis is spoOJ. SpoOJ is similar to the ParB family of plasmid-encoded partition proteins and is required for proper chromosome segregation during vegetative growth (13) and for correct chromosome positioning during sporulation (38). SpoOJ colocalizes with the origin region of the chromosome (9,20,22) and binds to specific sites located in the origin-proximal ϳ20% of the chromosome (21).…”

Section: Vol 182 2000mentioning

confidence: 99%

Penicillin-Binding Protein-Related Factor A Is Required for Proper Chromosome Segregation in Bacillus subtilis

Pedersen

Setlow

2000

J Bacteriol

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Previous work has shown that the ponA gene, encoding penicillin-binding protein 1 (PBP1), is in a two-gene operon with prfA (PBP-related factor A) (also called recU), which encodes a putative 206-residue basic protein (pI ‫؍‬ 10.1) with no significant sequence homology to proteins with known functions. Inactivation of prfA results in cells that grow slower and vary significantly in length relative to wild-type cells. We now show that prfA mutant cells have a defect in chromosome segregation resulting in the production of ϳ0.9 to 3% anucleate cells in prfA cultures grown at 30 or 37°C in rich medium and that the lack of PrfA exacerbates the chromosome segregation defect in smc and spoOJ mutant cells. In addition, overexpression of prfA was found to be toxic for and cause nucleoid condensation in Escherichia coli.Penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), which catalyze the polymerization and cross-linking of bacterial peptidoglycan, can be divided into three classes based on their amino acid sequence: the low-molecular-weight PBPs and the high-molecular-weight (HMW) class A and class B PBPs (8). The HMW class B PBPs are monofunctional transpeptidases, some of which have essential functions in septation and maintenance of cell shape (8), while the HMW class A PBPs have both transglycosylase and transpeptidase activities (14, 42) and appear to be somewhat functionally redundant (17, 34). The Bacillus subtilis ponA gene, coding for the HMW class A PBP1, is transcribed predominantly during log-phase growth (34). Previous work with B. subtilis mutants lacking one or several of the three known HMW class A PBPs (PBP1, PBP2c, and PBP4) showed that (i) lack of PBP1 results in slower growth, increased cell length, and decreased cell diameter and (ii) PBP1 is functionally more important than PBP2c and PBP4 (34). It was also recently demonstrated that PBP1 localizes to cell division sites and plays an important role in the formation of the peptidoglycan division septum in vegetative cells of B. subtilis (30).The ponA gene is part of a two-gene operon that also includes prfA (PBP-related factor A [note that in the B. subtilis genome database, prfA is called recU]), which is located immediately upstream of and cotranscribed with ponA (33). prfA codes for a putative 206 residue, basic protein (pI of 10.1), which has no significant sequence homology to proteins with known functions. However, DNA sequencing has indicated that genes encoding similar proteins are present in a large number of gram-positive bacteria: a BLAST search (2) of prfA against completed and unfinished microbial genomes (preliminary sequence data were obtained from The Institute of Genomic Research Website at http://www.tigr.org) produced sequences with significant homology from 10 different grampositive organisms, while no prfA homologs were detected in gram-negative bacteria by this analysis. The former organisms include Enterococcus faecalis (54% identity in a 192-aminoacid overlap), Staphylococcus aureus (58% identity in a 167-amino-acid overlap), Streptococcus p...

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The Bacillus subtilis soj‐spo0J locus is required for a centromere‐like function involved in prespore chromosome partitioning

Cited by 139 publications

References 31 publications

DNA polymerase template switching at specific sites on the φ29 genome causes the in vivo accumulation of subgenomic φ29 DNA molecules

DNA polymerase template switching at specific sites on the φ29 genome causes the in vivo accumulation of subgenomic φ29 DNA molecules

Towards understanding the molecular basis of bacterial DNA segregation

Penicillin-Binding Protein-Related Factor A Is Required for Proper Chromosome Segregation in Bacillus subtilis

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