DNA supercoiling by gyrase is linked to nucleoid compaction

被引：35

作者：

Stuger, R

Woldringh, CL

van der Weijden, CC

Vischer, NOE

Bakker, BM

van Spanning, RJM

Snoep, JL

Westerhoff, HV

机构：

[1] Free Univ Amsterdam, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands

[2] Univ Amsterdam, Swammerdam Inst Life Sci, NL-1012 WX Amsterdam, Netherlands

[3] Stellenbosch Inst Adv Study, Stellenbosch, South Africa

来源：

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY REPORTS | 2002年 / 29卷 / 1-2期

关键词：

DNA gyrase; Escherichia coli; nucleoid; supercoiling; topoisomerase;

D O I：

10.1023/A:1020318705894

中图分类号：

Q5 [生物化学]; Q7 [分子生物学];

学科分类号：

071010 ; 081704 ;

摘要：

The genes of E. coli are located on a circular chromosome of 4.6 million basepairs. This 1.6 mm long molecule is compressed into a nucleoid to fit inside the 1-2 mum cell in a functional format. To examine the role of DNA supercoiling as nucleoid compaction force we modulated the activity of DNA gyrase by electronic, genetic, and chemical means. A model based on physical properties of DNA and other cell components predicts that relaxation of supercoiling expands the nucleoid. Nucleoid size did not increase after reduction of DNA gyrase activity by genetic or chemical means, but nucleoids did expand upon chemical inhibition of gyrase in chloramphenicol-treated cells, indicating that supercoiling may help to compress the genome.

引用

页码：79 / 82

页数：4

共 14 条

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