Spatial ordering of chromosomes enhances the fidelity of chromosome partitioning in cyanobacteria
Open Access
- 6 August 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 109 (34), 13638-13643
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1211144109
Abstract
Many cyanobacteria have been shown to harbor multiple chromosome copies per cell, yet little is known about the organization, replication, and segregation of these chromosomes. Here, we visualize individual chromosomes in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus via time-lapse fluorescence microscopy. We find that chromosomes are equally spaced along the long axis of the cell and are interspersed with another regularly spaced subcellular compartment, the carboxysome. This remarkable organization of the cytoplasm along with accurate midcell septum placement allows for near-optimal segregation of chromosomes to daughter cells. Disruption of either chromosome ordering or midcell septum placement significantly increases the chromosome partitioning error. We find that chromosome replication is both asynchronous and independent of the position of the chromosome in the cell and that spatial organization is preserved after replication. Our findings on chromosome organization, replication, and segregation in S. elongatus provide a basis for understanding chromosome dynamics in bacteria with multiple chromosomes.Keywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- ParA-like protein uses nonspecific chromosomal DNA binding to partition protein complexesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012
- Random partitioning of molecules at cell divisionProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- Spatial organization of the flow of genetic information in bacteriaNature, 2010
- Bacterial Chromosome Organization and SegregationCold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2010
- CyanoBase: the cyanobacteria genome database update 2010Nucleic Acids Research, 2009
- SpoIIIE strips proteins off the DNA during chromosome translocationGenes & Development, 2008
- Fluorescence staining of live cyanobacterial cells suggest non-stringent chromosome segregation and absence of a connection between cytoplasmic and thylakoid membranesBMC Cell Biology, 2007
- Entropy-driven spatial organization of highly confined polymers: Lessons for the bacterial chromosomeProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006
- Circadian rhythms in gene transcription imparted by chromosome compaction in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatusProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006
- The positioning of cytoplasmic protein clusters in bacteriaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006