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Filament structure of bacterial tubulin homologue TubZ.


ABSTRACT: Low copy number plasmids often depend on accurate partitioning systems for their continued survival. Generally, such systems consist of a centromere-like region of DNA, a DNA-binding adaptor, and a polymerizing cytomotive filament. Together these components drive newly replicated plasmids to opposite ends of the dividing cell. The Bacillus thuringiensis plasmid pBToxis relies on a filament of the tubulin/FtsZ-like protein TubZ for its segregation. By combining crystallography and electron microscopy, we have determined the structure of this filament. We explain how GTP hydrolysis weakens the subunit-subunit contact and also shed light on the partitioning of the plasmid-adaptor complex. The double helical superstructure of TubZ filaments is unusual for tubulin-like proteins. Filaments of ParM, the actin-like partitioning protein, are also double helical. We suggest that convergent evolution shapes these different types of cytomotive filaments toward a general mechanism for plasmid separation.

SUBMITTER: Aylett CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2993389 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Filament structure of bacterial tubulin homologue TubZ.

Aylett Christopher H S CH   Wang Qing Q   Michie Katharine A KA   Amos Linda A LA   Löwe Jan J  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20101025 46


Low copy number plasmids often depend on accurate partitioning systems for their continued survival. Generally, such systems consist of a centromere-like region of DNA, a DNA-binding adaptor, and a polymerizing cytomotive filament. Together these components drive newly replicated plasmids to opposite ends of the dividing cell. The Bacillus thuringiensis plasmid pBToxis relies on a filament of the tubulin/FtsZ-like protein TubZ for its segregation. By combining crystallography and electron micros  ...[more]

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