Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Qin Liao, Zhongqing Ren, Emma E. Wiesler, Clay Fuqua, Xindan Wang
Summary: Unlike eukaryotes and archaea, bacterial chromosomes usually have a single replication origin. However, a dicentric bacterial chromosome with two replication origins was discovered in Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and both replication origins and their partitioning systems are essential for cell survival.
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Bing Wang, Irina Artsimovitch
Summary: Bacillus subtilis utilizes uncoupled transcription and translation strategies to meet its unique regulatory needs, showing that bacteria employ diverse gene expression strategies.
TRENDS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jonathan Heuze, Samira Kemiha, Antoine Barthe, Alba Toran Vilarrubias, Elyes Aouadi, Umberto Aiello, Domenico Libri, Yea-Lih Lin, Armelle Lengronne, Jerome Poli, Philippe Pasero
Summary: R-loops, RNA:DNA hybrids, act as barriers to replication forks and interfere with postreplicative fork repair mechanisms if not promptly degraded by RNase H. Cells lacking RNase H exhibit impaired replication under challenging conditions, and triptolide, an inhibitor of transcription, restores fork resection.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cristina Ramos, Rogelio Hernandez-Tamayo, Maria Lopez-Sanz, Begona Carrasco, Ester Serrano, Juan C. Alonso, Peter L. Graumann, Silvia Ayora
Summary: This study explores the role of RecD2 in DNA replication and its interaction with RecA. The results demonstrate that RecD2 counteracts the inhibition of leading and lagging strand synthesis by physically interacting with RecA. Additionally, RecD2 overcomes replicative stress by modulating RecA-mediated DNA strand exchange and branch migration.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ane Landajuela, Martha Braun, Alejandro Martinez-Calvo, Christopher D. A. Rodrigues, Carolina Gomis Perez, Thierry Doan, David Z. Rudner, Ned S. Wingreen, Erdem Karatekin
Summary: In Bacillus subtilis, membrane fission during cell division and endospore formation involves forespore inflation, increased membrane tension, and the presence of FisB protein. Forespore inflation leads to higher tension in the engulfment membrane, causing membrane flow and supplying membrane for forespore growth. FisB oligomerization at the membrane neck slows tension equilibration, further increasing engulfment membrane tension and promoting fission.
Article
Microbiology
Lindsay A. Matthews, Lyle A. Simmons
Summary: PriA is a crucial protein found in almost all bacteria that recognizes stalled replication forks and aids in their restart. This study focused on analyzing the importance of the winged helix (WH) domain and an associated linker in Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis). The results showed that both the WH domain and linker are critical for surviving DNA damage in B. subtilis, and they may play different roles in diverse bacterial organisms.
JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Piotr Machtel, Anna Wasilewska-Burczyk, Julian Zacharjasz, Kamilla Grzywacz
Summary: The study introduces a new method, PTT-quant, for the absolute quantification of premature transcription termination events. By using this method, the dynamics of SAM riboswitch induction were accurately measured in Bacillus subtilis, providing important insights into the regulation of transcription.
APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Eugenie Dubnau, Micaela DeSantis, David Dubnau
Summary: In Bacillus subtilis, the RicT (YaaT), RicA (YmcA), and RicF (YlbF) proteins form a stable ternary complex with RNase Y (Rny) to cleave and stabilize key transcripts encoding enzymes of intermediary metabolism. The formation of the stable RicT-Rny complex requires the presence of RicA and RicF and the two iron-sulfur clusters carried by the Ric complex. Proteins of the degradosome-like network are dispensable for processing of the gapA operon, indicating that Rny participates in distinct RNA-related processes determined by its binding partners.
Article
Microbiology
Petra Sudzinova, Milada Kambova, Olga Ramaniuk, Martin Benda, Hana Sanderova, Libor Krasny
Summary: The study shows that DNA topology plays a role in regulating the transcription activity of Bacillus subtilis rRNA promoters in a growth phase-dependent manner. More negative DNA supercoiling stimulates transcription from rRNA promoters, while DNA relaxation contributes to cessation of their activity. Treatment with novobiocin relaxes DNA and decreases rRNA promoter activity, revealing the importance of DNA topology in the expression of rRNA and transcription activities of RNAP holoenzymes with alternative sigma factors.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mary E. Anderson, Janet L. Smith, Alan D. Grossman
Summary: DNA replication is regulated primarily at the initiation step, where DnaA and oriC are the key targets. Multiple mechanisms including elongation and initiation can compensate for over-initiation, highlighting the complexity of replication regulation.
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Matej Butala, Anna Dragos
Summary: As part of their survival strategy, endospore-forming bacteria can trigger a developmental program called sporulation. Although the regulatory cascades controlling this transformation have been described, less is known about how bacteriophages that prey on these bacteria exploit sporulation. The specific molecular mechanisms of phages infecting endospore-formers are unique and may have negative effects on the host.
TRENDS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rinat Arbel-Goren, Saria A. McKeithen-Mead, Dominik Voglmaier, Idana Afremov, Gianluca Teza, Alan D. Grossman, Joel Stavans
Summary: ICEs are mobile genetic elements that transfer to recipient cells by conjugation. This study quantitatively investigated the search process of ICEBs1 for its unique integration site in Bacillus subtilis cells. The results showed various dynamic behaviors of ICEBs1 and pronounced asymmetry in the motion of the chromosomal integration site, highlighting the role of chromosomal structure and bacterial interior heterogeneity in the search process.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yajuan Yang, Weiwei Xu, Fei Gao, Canxin Wen, Simin Zhao, Yongze Yu, Wenlin Jiao, Xin Mi, Yingying Qin, Zi-Jiang Chen, Shidou Zhao
Summary: This study reveals that mouse PGCs experience a high frequency of transcription-replication conflicts, leading to replication stress and DNA damage. The FA pathway is found to play a crucial role in PGC proliferation, and disabling this pathway results in severe cell loss and sterility.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Aniruddha Tewary, Ranjit Kumar Prajapati, Jayanta Mukhopadhyay
Summary: The C-terminal domain of the α subunit of RNA polymerase is targeted by transcriptional regulators in the activation of transcription. In bacteria, the regulator binds to DNA at different sites and interacts with the α CTD to stabilize the RNA polymerase at the promoter or form a pre-recruitment complex. In B. subtilis, the binding of RNA polymerase at the promoter stabilizes the transcriptional regulator and facilitates open complex formation. Two residues of the α CTD are essential for this process.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Deani L. Cooper, Taku Harada, Samia Tamazi, Alexander E. Ferrazzoli, Susan T. Lovett, James Keck
Summary: In Escherichia coli, DNA replication is catalyzed by the DNA polymerase III holoenzyme, including the non-essential accessory protein HolC, which when mutated can lead to growth impairment, genetic instability, and sensitivity to DNA damaging agents. The study identified suppressor alleles of RNA polymerase and sspA that partially suppress the loss of HolC, while mutations in transcription factors DksA and NusA exacerbate the inviability of HolC mutants. The findings suggest that transcription complexes may block replication in HolC mutants, and Rho-dependent transcriptional termination and DksA function are crucial for sustaining viability and chromosome integrity in these mutants.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Samuel Million-Weaver, Ariana N. Samadpour, Daniela A. Moreno-Habel, Patrick Nugent, Mitchell J. Brittnacher, Eli Weiss, Hillary S. Hayden, Samuel I. Miller, Ivan Liachko, Houra Merrikh
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2015)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sandip Paul, Samuel Million-Weaver, Sujay Chattopadhyay, Evgeni Sokurenko, Houra Merrikh
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Samuel Million-Weaver, Manel Camps