Chromosome organization by a conserved condensin-ParB system in the actinobacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum

Böhm, Kati; Giacomelli, Giacomo; Schmidt, Andreas; Imhof, Axel; Koszul, Romain; Marbouty, Martial und Bramkamp, Marc (2020): Chromosome organization by a conserved condensin-ParB system in the actinobacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum. In: Nature Communications, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1485

Abstract

Higher-order chromosome folding and segregation are tightly regulated in all domains of life. In bacteria, details on nucleoid organization regulatory mechanisms and function remain poorly characterized, especially in non-model species. Here, we investigate the role of DNA-partitioning protein ParB and SMC condensin complexes in the actinobacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum. Chromosome conformation capture reveals SMC-mediated long-range interactions around ten centromere-like parS sites clustered at the replication origin (oriC). At least one oriC-proximal parS site is necessary for reliable chromosome segregation. We use chromatin immunoprecipitation and photoactivated single-molecule localization microscopy to show the formation of distinct, parS-dependent ParB-nucleoprotein subclusters. We further show that SMC/ScpAB complexes, loaded via ParB at parS sites, mediate chromosomal inter-arm contacts (as previously shown in Bacillus subtilis). However, the MukBEF-like SMC complex MksBEFG does not contribute to chromosomal DNA-folding;instead, this complex is involved in plasmid maintenance and interacts with the polar oriC-tethering factor DivIVA. Our results complement current models of ParB-SMC/ScpAB crosstalk and show that some condensin complexes evolved functions that are apparently uncoupled from chromosome folding.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Biology; Medicine
• Subjects: 500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology; 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English