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Entropy-based mechanism of ribosome-nucleoid segregation in E. coli cells.

ABSTRACT: In Escherichia coli, ribosomes concentrate near the cylindrical wall and at the endcaps, whereas the chromosomal DNA segregates in the more centrally located nucleoid. A simple statistical model recovers the observed ribosome-nucleoid segregation remarkably well. Plectonemic DNA is represented as a hyperbranched hard-sphere polymer, and multiple ribosomes that simultaneously translate the same mRNA strand (polysomes) are represented as freely jointed chains of hard spheres. There are no attractive interactions between particles, only excluded-volume effects. At realistic DNA and ribosome concentrations, segregation arises primarily from two effects: the DNA polymer avoids walls to maximize conformational entropy, and the polysomes occupy the empty space near the walls to maximize translational entropy. In this complex system, maximizing total entropy results in spatial organization of the components. Due to coupling of mRNA to DNA through RNA polymerase, the same entropic effects should favor the placement of highly expressed genes at the interface between the nucleoid and the ribosome-rich periphery. Such a placement would enable efficient cotranscriptional translation and facile transertion of membrane proteins into the cytoplasmic membrane. Finally, in the model, monofunctional DNA polymer beads representing the tips of plectonemes preferentially locate near the cylindrical wall. This suggests that initiation of transcription may occur preferentially near the ribosome-rich periphery.

SUBMITTER: Mondal J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3117155 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Entropy-based mechanism of ribosome-nucleoid segregation in E. coli cells.

Mondal Jagannath J Bratton Benjamin P BP Li Yijie Y Yethiraj Arun A Weisshaar James C JC

Biophysical journal 20110601 11

In Escherichia coli, ribosomes concentrate near the cylindrical wall and at the endcaps, whereas the chromosomal DNA segregates in the more centrally located nucleoid. A simple statistical model recovers the observed ribosome-nucleoid segregation remarkably well. Plectonemic DNA is represented as a hyperbranched hard-sphere polymer, and multiple ribosomes that simultaneously translate the same mRNA strand (polysomes) are represented as freely jointed chains of hard spheres. There are no attracti ...[more]

PMID: 21641305

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Project description:The Escherichia coli CrfC protein is an important regulator of nucleoid positioning and equipartition. Previously we revealed that CrfC homo-oligomers bind the clamp, a DNA-binding subunit of the DNA polymerase III holoenzyme, promoting colocalization of the sister replication forks, which ensures the nucleoid equipartition. In addition, CrfC localizes at the cell pole-proximal loci via an unknown mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that CrfC localizes to the distinct subnucleoid structures termed nucleoid poles (the cell pole-proximal nucleoid-edges) even in elongated cells as well as in wild-type cells. Systematic analysis of the nucleoid-associated proteins (NAPs) and related proteins revealed that HU, the most abundant NAP, and SlmA, the nucleoid occlusion factor regulating the localization of cell division apparatus, promote the specific localization of CrfC foci. When the replication initiator DnaA was inactivated, SlmA and HU were required for formation of CrfC foci. In contrast, when the replication initiation was inhibited with a specific mutant of the helicase-loader DnaC, CrfC foci were sustained independently of SlmA and HU. H-NS, which forms clusters on AT-rich DNA regions, promotes formation of CrfC foci as well as transcriptional regulation of crfC. In addition, MukB, the chromosomal structure mainetanice protein, and SeqA, a hemimethylated nascent DNA region-binding protein, moderately stimulated formation of CrfC foci. However, IHF, a structural homolog of HU, MatP, the replication terminus-binding protein, Dps, a stress-response factor, and FtsZ, an SlmA-interacting factor in cell division apparatus, little or only slightly affected CrfC foci formation and localization. Taken together, these findings suggest a novel and unique mechanism that CrfC localizes to the nucleoid poles in two steps, assembly and recruitment, dependent upon HU, MukB, SeqA, and SlmA, which is stimulated directly or indirectly by H-NS and DnaA. These factors might concordantly affect specific nucleoid substructures. Also, these nucleoid dynamics might be significant in the role for CrfC in chromosome partition.

Dataset Information

Entropy-based mechanism of ribosome-nucleoid segregation in E. coli cells.

Publications

Entropy-based mechanism of ribosome-nucleoid segregation in E. coli cells.

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