期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2009
卷号:106
期号:46
页码:19369-19374
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0908347106
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Bacterial plasmids encode partitioning (par) loci that confer stable plasmid inheritance. We showed previously that, in the presence of ParB and parC encoded by the par2 locus of plasmid pB171, ParA formed cytoskeletal-like structures that dynamically relocated over the nucleoid. Simultaneously, the par2 locus distributed plasmids regularly over the nucleoid. We show here that the dynamic ParA patterns are not simple oscillations. Rather, ParA nucleates and polymerizes in between plasmids. When a ParA assembly reaches a plasmid, the assembly reaction reverses into disassembly. Strikingly, plasmids consistently migrate behind disassembling ParA cytoskeletal structures, suggesting that ParA filaments pull plasmids by depolymerization. The perpetual cycles of ParA assembly and disassembly result in continuous relocation of plasmids, which, on time averaging, results in equidistribution of the plasmids. Mathematical modeling of ParA and plasmid dynamics support these interpretations. Mutational analysis supports a molecular mechanism in which the ParB/parC complex controls ParA filament depolymerization.
关键词:cytoskeleton ; DNA segregation ; mathematical modeling ; ParA ParB ; pulling