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CRISPR-mediated control of the bacterial initiation of replication.

ABSTRACT: Programmable control of the cell cycle has been shown to be a powerful tool in cell-biology studies. Here, we develop a novel system for controlling the bacterial cell cycle, based on binding of CRISPR/dCas9 to the origin-of-replication locus. Initiation of replication of bacterial chromosomes is accurately regulated by the DnaA protein, which promotes the unwinding of DNA at oriC We demonstrate that the binding of CRISPR/dCas9 to any position within origin or replication blocks the initiation of replication. Serial-dilution plating, single-cell fluorescence microscopy, and flow-cytometry experiments show that ongoing rounds of chromosome replication are finished upon CRISPR/dCas9 binding, but no new rounds are initiated. Upon arrest, cells stay metabolically active and accumulate cell mass. We find that elevating the temperature from 37 to 42°C releases the CRISR/dCas9 replication inhibition, and we use this feature to recover cells from the arrest. Our simple and robust method of controlling the bacterial cell cycle is a useful asset for synthetic biology and DNA-replication studies in particular. The inactivation of CRISPR/dCas9 binding at elevated temperatures may furthermore be of wide interest for CRISPR/Cas9 applications in genomic engineering.

SUBMITTER: Wiktor J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4857001 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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CRISPR-mediated control of the bacterial initiation of replication.

Wiktor Jakub J Lesterlin Christian C Sherratt David J DJ Dekker Cees C

Nucleic acids research 20160401 8

Programmable control of the cell cycle has been shown to be a powerful tool in cell-biology studies. Here, we develop a novel system for controlling the bacterial cell cycle, based on binding of CRISPR/dCas9 to the origin-of-replication locus. Initiation of replication of bacterial chromosomes is accurately regulated by the DnaA protein, which promotes the unwinding of DNA at oriC We demonstrate that the binding of CRISPR/dCas9 to any position within origin or replication blocks the initiation o ...[more]

PMID: 27036863

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Project description:An essential feature of bacterial plasmids is their ability to replicate as autonomous genetic elements in a controlled way within the host. Therefore, they can be used to explore the mechanisms involved in DNA replication and to analyze the different strategies that couple DNA replication to other critical events in the cell cycle. In this review, we focus on replication and its control in circular plasmids. Plasmid replication can be conveniently divided into three stages: initiation, elongation, and termination. The inability of DNA polymerases to initiate de novo replication makes necessary the independent generation of a primer. This is solved, in circular plasmids, by two main strategies: (i) opening of the strands followed by RNA priming (theta and strand displacement replication) or (ii) cleavage of one of the DNA strands to generate a 3'-OH end (rolling-circle replication). Initiation is catalyzed most frequently by one or a few plasmid-encoded initiation proteins that recognize plasmid-specific DNA sequences and determine the point from which replication starts (the origin of replication). In some cases, these proteins also participate directly in the generation of the primer. These initiators can also play the role of pilot proteins that guide the assembly of the host replisome at the plasmid origin. Elongation of plasmid replication is carried out basically by DNA polymerase III holoenzyme (and, in some cases, by DNA polymerase I at an early stage), with the participation of other host proteins that form the replisome. Termination of replication has specific requirements and implications for reinitiation, studies of which have started. The initiation stage plays an additional role: it is the stage at which mechanisms controlling replication operate. The objective of this control is to maintain a fixed concentration of plasmid molecules in a growing bacterial population (duplication of the plasmid pool paced with duplication of the bacterial population). The molecules involved directly in this control can be (i) RNA (antisense RNA), (ii) DNA sequences (iterons), or (iii) antisense RNA and proteins acting in concert. The control elements maintain an average frequency of one plasmid replication per plasmid copy per cell cycle and can "sense" and correct deviations from this average. Most of the current knowledge on plasmid replication and its control is based on the results of analyses performed with pure cultures under steady-state growth conditions. This knowledge sets important parameters needed to understand the maintenance of these genetic elements in mixed populations and under environmental conditions.

Project description:Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli are evolutionarily divergent model organisms whose analysis has enabled elucidation of fundamental differences between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively. Despite their differences in cell cycle control at the molecular level, the two organisms follow the same phenomenological principle, known as the adder principle, for cell size homeostasis. We thus asked to what extent B. subtilis and E. coli share common physiological principles in coordinating growth and the cell cycle. We measured physiological parameters of B. subtilis under various steady-state growth conditions with and without translation inhibition at both the population and single-cell levels. These experiments revealed core physiological principles shared between B. subtilis and E. coli Specifically, both organisms maintain an invariant cell size per replication origin at initiation, under all steady-state conditions, and even during nutrient shifts at the single-cell level. Furthermore, the two organisms also inherit the same "hierarchy" of physiological parameters. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that the basic principles of coordination between growth and the cell cycle in bacteria may have been established early in evolutionary history.IMPORTANCE High-throughput, quantitative approaches have enabled the discovery of fundamental principles describing bacterial physiology. These principles provide a foundation for predicting the behavior of biological systems, a widely held aspiration. However, these approaches are often exclusively applied to the best-known model organism, E. coli In this report, we investigate to what extent quantitative principles discovered in Gram-negative E. coli are applicable to Gram-positive B. subtilis We found that these two extremely divergent bacterial species employ deeply similar strategies in order to coordinate growth, cell size, and the cell cycle. These similarities mean that the quantitative physiological principles described here can likely provide a beachhead for others who wish to understand additional, less-studied prokaryotes.

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CRISPR-mediated control of the bacterial initiation of replication.

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CRISPR-mediated control of the bacterial initiation of replication.

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