Open AccessStructure and partitioning of bacterial DNA: determined by a balance of compaction and expansion forces?
Author(s) -
Woldringh Conrad L.,
Jensen Peter Ruhdal,
Westerhoff Hans V.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1995.tb07782.x
Subject(s) - nucleoid , dna supercoil , dna , circular bacterial chromosome , biophysics , escherichia coli , chromosome , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , transcription (linguistics) , genetics , dna replication , gene , linguistics , philosophy
The mechanisms that determine chromosome structure and chromosome partitioning in bacteria are largely unknown. Here we discuss two hypotheses: (i) the structure of the Escherichia coli nucleoid is determined by DNA binding proteins and DNA supercoiling, representing a compaction force on the one hand, and by the coupled transcription/translation/ translocation of plasma membrane and cell wall proteins, representing an expansion force on the other hand; (ii) the two forces are important for the partitioning process of chromosomes.