This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Graumann, P. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Graumann, P. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2000, p. 6463-6471, Vol. 182, No. 22
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Bacillus subtilis SMC Is Required for Proper Arrangement of the Chromosome and for Efficient Segregation of Replication Termini but Not for Bipolar Movement of Newly Duplicated Origin Regions

Peter L. Graumann*

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Received 12 June 2000/Accepted 21 August 2000

SMC protein is required for chromosome condensation and for the faithful segregation of daughter chromosomes in Bacillus subtilis. The visualization of specific sites on the chromosome showed that newly duplicated origin regions in growing cells of an smc mutant were able to segregate from each other but that the location of origin regions was frequently aberrant. In contrast, the segregation of replication termini was impaired in smc mutant cells. This analysis was extended to germinating spores of an smc mutant. The results showed that during germination, newly duplicated origins, but not termini, were able to separate from each other in the absence of SMC. Also, DAPI (4',6'-diamidino-2-phenylindole) staining revealed that chromosomes in germinating spores were able to undergo partial or complete replication but that the daughter chromosomes were blocked at a late stage in the segregation process. These findings were confirmed by time-lapse microscopy, which showed that after duplication in growing cells the origin regions underwent rapid movement toward opposite poles of the cell in the absence of SMC. This indicates that SMC is not a required component of the mitotic motor that initially drives origins apart after their duplication. It is also concluded that SMC is needed to maintain the proper layout of the chromosome in the cell and that it functions in the cell cycle after origin separation but prior to complete segregation or replication of daughter chromosomes. It is proposed here that chromosome segregation takes place in at least two steps: an SMC-independent step in which origins move apart and a subsequent SMC-dependent step in which newly duplicated chromosomes condense and are thereby drawn apart.

* Present address: Biochemie/Chemie, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse, 35032 Marburg, Germany. Phone: 49 (0) 6421-2825795. Fax: 49 (0) 6421-2822191. E-mail: graumann{at}chemie.uni-marburg.de.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2000, p. 6463-6471, Vol. 182, No. 22
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kois, A., Swiatek, M., Jakimowicz, D., Zakrzewska-Czerwinska, J. (2009). SMC Protein-Dependent Chromosome Condensation during Aerial Hyphal Development in Streptomyces. J. Bacteriol. 191: 310-319 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dubarry, N., Pasta, F., Lane, D. (2006). ParABS Systems of the Four Replicons of Burkholderia cenocepacia: New Chromosome Centromeres Confer Partition Specificity. J. Bacteriol. 188: 1489-1496 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tadesse, S., Mascarenhas, J., Kosters, B., Hasilik, A., Graumann, P. L. (2005). Genetic interaction of the SMC complex with topoisomerase IV in Bacillus subtilis. Microbiology 151: 3729-3737 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Volkov, A., Mascarenhas, J., Andrei-Selmer, C., Ulrich, H. D., Graumann, P. L. (2003). A Prokaryotic Condensin/Cohesin-Like Complex Can Actively Compact Chromosomes from a Single Position on the Nucleoid and Binds to DNA as a Ring-Like Structure. Mol. Cell. Biol. 23: 5638-5650 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Jensen, R. B., Shapiro, L. (2003). Cell-Cycle-Regulated Expression and Subcellular Localization of the Caulobacter crescentus SMC Chromosome Structural Protein. J. Bacteriol. 185: 3068-3075 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dworkin, J., Losick, R. (2002). Does RNA polymerase help drive chromosome segregation in bacteria?. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 14089-14094 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lindow, J. C., Britton, R. A., Grossman, A. D. (2002). Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes Protein of Bacillussubtilis Affects Supercoiling In Vivo. J. Bacteriol. 184: 5317-5322 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hirano, T. (2002). The ABCs of SMC proteins: two-armed ATPases for chromosome condensation, cohesion, and repair. Genes Dev. 16: 399-414 [Full Text]  
  • Lemon, K. P., Grossman, A. D. (2001). The extrusion-capture model for chromosome partitioning in bacteria. Genes Dev. 15: 2031-2041 [Full Text]  
  • Graumann, P. L., Losick, R. (2001). Coupling of Asymmetric Division to Polar Placement of Replication Origin Regions in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 183: 4052-4060 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • She, Q., Singh, R. K., Confalonieri, F., Zivanovic, Y., Allard, G., Awayez, M. J., Chan-Weiher, C. C.-Y., Clausen, I. G., Curtis, B. A., De Moors, A., Erauso, G., Fletcher, C., Gordon, P. M. K., Heikamp-de Jong, I., Jeffries, A. C., Kozera, C. J., Medina, N., Peng, X., Thi-Ngoc, H. P., Redder, P., Schenk, M. E., Theriault, C., Tolstrup, N., Charlebois, R. L., Doolittle, W. F., Duguet, M., Gaasterland, T., Garrett, R. A., Ragan, M. A., Sensen, C. W., Van der Oost, J. (2001). The complete genome of the crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus P2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 10.1073/pnas.141222098v1 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • She, Q., Singh, R. K., Confalonieri, F., Zivanovic, Y., Allard, G., Awayez, M. J., Chan-Weiher, C. C.-Y., Clausen, I. G., Curtis, B. A., De Moors, A., Erauso, G., Fletcher, C., Gordon, P. M. K., Heikamp-de Jong, I., Jeffries, A. C., Kozera, C. J., Medina, N., Peng, X., Thi-Ngoc, H. P., Redder, P., Schenk, M. E., Theriault, C., Tolstrup, N., Charlebois, R. L., Doolittle, W. F., Duguet, M., Gaasterland, T., Garrett, R. A., Ragan, M. A., Sensen, C. W., Van der Oost, J. (2001). The complete genome of the crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus P2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 7835-7840 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»