Kruse Thomas, Møller-Jensen Jakob, Løbner-Olesen Anders, Gerdes Kenn
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark.
EMBO J. 2003 Oct 1;22(19):5283-92. doi: 10.1093/emboj/cdg504.
The mechanism of prokaryotic chromosome segregation is not known. MreB, an actin homolog, is a shape-determining factor in rod-shaped prokaryotic cells. Using immunofluorescence microscopy we found that MreB of Escherichia coli formed helical filaments located beneath the cell surface. Flow cytometric and cytological analyses indicated that MreB-depleted cells segregated their chromosomes in pairs, consistent with chromosome cohesion. Overexpression of wild-type MreB inhibited cell division but did not perturb chromosome segregation. Overexpression of mutant forms of MreB inhibited cell division, caused abnormal MreB filament morphology and induced severe localization defects of the nucleoid and of the oriC and terC chromosomal regions. The chromosomal terminus regions appeared cohered in both MreB-depleted cells and in cells overexpressing mutant forms of MreB. Our observations indicate that MreB filaments participate in directional chromosome movement and segregation.
原核生物染色体分离的机制尚不清楚。MreB是一种肌动蛋白同源物,是杆状原核细胞中的形状决定因子。利用免疫荧光显微镜,我们发现大肠杆菌的MreB形成位于细胞表面下方的螺旋丝。流式细胞术和细胞学分析表明,MreB缺失的细胞成对分离其染色体,这与染色体黏连一致。野生型MreB的过表达抑制细胞分裂,但不干扰染色体分离。MreB突变形式的过表达抑制细胞分裂,导致MreB丝形态异常,并诱导类核以及oriC和terC染色体区域出现严重的定位缺陷。在MreB缺失的细胞和过表达MreB突变形式的细胞中,染色体末端区域均呈现黏连状态。我们的观察结果表明,MreB丝参与了染色体的定向移动和分离。