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Replication‐directed sister chromosome alignment in Escherichia coli
Author(s) -
Liu Xun,
Wang Xindan,
ReyesLamothe Rodrigo,
Sherratt David
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2009.06791.x
Subject(s) - biology , nucleoid , seqa protein domain , dna replication , genetics , chromosome , replication timing , origin of replication , population , microbiology and biotechnology , dna , escherichia coli , gene , demography , sociology
Summary Non‐replicating Escherichia coli chromosomes are organized as sausage‐shaped structures with the left (L) and the right (R) chromosome arms (replichores) on opposite cell halves and the replication origin ( oriC ) close to midcell. The replication termination region ( ter ) therefore passes between the two outer edges of the nucleoid. Four alignment patterns of the two sister chromosomes within a cell have been detected in an asynchronous population, with the pattern predominating. We test the hypothesis that the minority and patterns arise because of pausing of DNA replication on the right and left replichores respectively. The data resulting from transient pausing or longer‐term site‐specific blocking of replication show that paused/blocked loci remain close to midcell and the normally replicated‐segregated loci locate to the outer regions of the nucleoid, therefore providing experimental support for a direct mechanistic link between DNA replication and chromosome organization.