From polymers to gene regulation:a bottom up approach to the bacterial chromatin

DNA molecule is the fundamental component of every living organism, since it encodes the hereditary information. Although the genetic code of almost 200 species has been sequenced, the direct connection between gene sequence, DNA structure and biological function remains poorly understood. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the connection between DNA function and structure. Throughout the thesis we will discuss experiments testing the link between different physical properties of DNA with its biological function. For this purpose we used atomic force microscopy (AFM), a high resolution imaging technique. The first chapter is devoted to explain the basic concepts of AFM technique, as well as the composition and structure of DNA molecules. We also describe some of the polymer physics models of DNA, defining basic quantities like the persistence and the critical exponent. In chapter 2 we discuss experiments, in which we studied changes in the physical properties of DNA molecules, when bound to the substrate surface with various methods. We show that, when DNA is strongly bound to the surface, it retains its physiological B-form. On contrary, when weakly bound, a conformational B-to-A-form transition takes place. We also discuss a novel experimental method, combining nanometer sized PDMS slits with AFM, for studying DNA in geometrical confinement. When DNA is weakly confined, DNA persistence length increases, molecules elongate and adopt more anisotropic shapes. Under stronger confinement, DNA hairpins form. In chapter 3 we study binding of staining dyes, proteins and RNA polymerase (RNAP) to DNA molecules. First we show that DNA physical properties are significantly affected when stained with dyes. Depending on the dye binding mode, either the contour length, or the persistence length or both simultaneously change. We move further and investigate the role of protein amino acids and DNA sequence in the formation of nucleoprotein complexes. On the example of EspR protein, a key virulence regulator in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), we show that single amino acid mutations, lead to lower DNA binding affinity. These mutations also impair the formation of higher order protein-DNA complexes, silencing the MTB virulence. Afterwards, on the examples of RNAP and H-NS protein, we show the importance of DNA sequence for the binding and higher order oligomerization. By introducing DNA mutations disrupting the helical phasing between RNAP binding sites in the fis promoter sequence, we significantly lower the RNAP binding affinity. The helical phasing of the binding sites somehow coordinates the cooperative binding of RNAP to the promoter. Finally on the model of H-NS protein, we show how different spatial arrangements of strong binding sites for an architectural protein in the DNA, determine the final 3D structure of the assembled nucleoprotein complex. The final chapter, is fully devoted to the study of a completely new type of DNA organisation, which we call Hyperplectonemes. Hyperplectonemes are very ordered DNA structures, formed by large supercoiled molecules, in the presence of attractive DNA-DNA potential. First, we describe their structure and its dependence on various environmental factors, than their binding to nucleoid associated proteins. We argue that this emerging DNA organisation is the basic structure of the bacterial chromatin, which is further modulated by numerous DNA binding and condensing proteins in vivo

Effects of physiological self-crowding of DNA on shape and biological properties of DNA molecules with various levels of supercoiling

DNA in bacterial chromosomes and bacterial plasmids is supercoiled. DNA supercoiling is essential for DNA replication and gene regulation. However, the density of supercoiling in vivo is circa twice smaller than in deproteinized DNA molecules isolated from bacteria. What are then the specific advantages of reduced supercoiling density that is maintained in vivo? Using Brownian dynamics simulations and atomic force microscopy we show here that thanks to physiological DNA-DNA crowding DNA molecules with reduced supercoiling density are still sufficiently supercoiled to stimulate interaction between cis-regulatory elements. On the other hand, weak supercoiling permits DNA molecules to modulate their overall shape in response to physiological changes in DNA crowding. This plasticity of DNA shapes may have regulatory role and be important for the postreplicative spontaneous segregation of bacterial chromosome

Direct Imaging of the circular chromosome of a live bacterium

Although the physical properties of chromosomes, including their morphology, mechanics, and dynamics are crucial for their biological function, many basic questions remain unresolved. Here we directly image the circular chromosome in live E. coli with a broadened cell shape. We find that it exhibits a torus topology with, on average, a lower-density origin of replication and an ultrathin flexible string of DNA at the terminus of replication. At the single-cell level, the torus is strikingly heterogeneous, with blob-like Mbp-size domains that undergo major dynamic rearrangements, splitting and merging at a minute timescale. Our data show a domain organization underlying the chromosome structure of E. coli, where MatP proteins induce site-specific persistent domain boundaries at Ori/Ter, while transcription regulators HU and Fis induce weaker transient domain boundaries throughout the genome. These findings provide an architectural basis for the understanding of the dynamic spatial organization of bacterial genomes in live cells

Influence of DNA Binding Dyes on Bare DNA Structure Studied with Atomic Force Microscopy

Fluorescent dyes are widely used for staining and visualization of DNA in optical microscopy based methods. Even though for some dyes the mechanism of binding is known, how this binding affects DNA remains poorly understood. Here we present a novel experimental study of the influence of staining dyes on DNA properties. We use atomic force microscopy which allows quantification and measurement of structural properties of stained DNA with nanometer resolution. We studied the influence of dyes on the persistence length, the total contour length, and the morphology of individual DNA molecules. We tested three widely used dyes known to differently bind DNA molecules, namely PicoGreen, Dapi, and DRAQ5. Based on our measurements, when imaged at typical concentrations (manufacturer suggested concentrations used for cell imaging), PicoGreen dye showed little effect, Dapi dye decreased the DNA persistence length, and DRAQ5 decreased the persistence length and elongated the DNA. When used at high concentrations, all of the dyes induced drastic changes in the DNA morphology. Our study clearly shows that DNA-binding dyes, irrespective of their DNA binding mechanisms, strongly influence the physical properties of DNA. These changes are strongly dose and dye type dependent and therefore should be taken into consideration when conducting experiments with DNA

Nanoaggregates of micropurified lipopolysaccharide identified using dynamic light scattering, zeta potential measurement, and TLR4 signaling activity

Nanoaggregates composed of selected glycoforms from Escherichia coli 055:B5 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were prepared by combining sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, zinc-imidazole reverse staining, zinc chelation after cutting gel slices, elution with either 0.5% triethylamine (TEA) or 0.4% to 0.5% surfactant (SDS or deoxycholate [DOC]) from extrusion-generated gel microparticles, and centrifugal diafiltration after appropriate surfactant dilution. Dynamic light scattering allows detecting these aggregates, giving a size distribution from 10 to 100 nm in diameter. The formation of the aggregates prepared with selected DOC-eluted LPS glycoforms was notably improved over those prepared with TEA-eluted glycoforms. As the O-side chain length increased in the composition of the former aggregates, there was a gradual decrease in the electrophoretic mobility (from -1.2 to 0.01 10(-8) m(2)/V s), giving a calculated zeta potential from -15 to 0.1 mV at pH 6.8. These aggregates were further characterized for their abilities to elicit agonistic effects on human Toll-like receptor 4, as shown by in vitro activation of nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kappa B) in engineered HEK293 cells. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Spatial organization of DNA sequences directs the assembly of bacterial chromatin by a nucleoid-associated protein

Structural differentiation of bacterial chromatin depends on cooperative binding of abundant nucleoid-associated proteins at numerous genomic DNA sites and stabilization of distinct long-range nucleoprotein structures. Histone-like nucleoid-structuring protein (H-NS) is an abundant DNA-bridging, nucleoid-associated protein that binds to an AT-rich conserved DNA sequence motif and regulates both the shape and the genetic expression of the bacterial chromosome. Although there is ample evidence that the mode of H-NS binding depends on environmental conditions, the role of the spatial organization of H-NS-binding sequences in the assembly of long-range nucleoprotein structures remains unknown. In this study, by using high-resolution atomic force microscopy combined with biochemical assays, we explored the formation of H-NS nucleoprotein complexes on circular DNA molecules having different arrangements of identical sequences containing high-affinity H-NS-binding sites. We provide the first experimental evidence that variable sequence arrangements result in various three-dimensional nucleoprotein structures that differ in their shape and the capacity to constrain supercoils and compact the DNA. We believe that the DNA sequence-directed versatile assembly of periodic higher-order structures reveals a general organizational principle that can be exploited for knowledge-based design of long-range nucleoprotein complexes and purposeful manipulation of the bacterial chromatin architecture

Microwell-enhanced optical rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing of single bacteria

Summary: Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics present an increasing burden on healthcare. To address this emerging crisis, novel rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) methods are eagerly needed. Here, we present an optical AST technique that can determine the bacterial viability within 1 h down to a resolution of single bacteria. The method is based on measuring intensity fluctuations of a reflected laser focused on a bacterium in reflective microwells. Using numerical simulations, we show that both refraction and absorption of light by the bacterium contribute to the observed signal. By administering antibiotics that kill the bacteria, we show that the variance of the detected fluctuations vanishes within 1 h, indicating the potential of this technique for rapid sensing of bacterial antibiotic susceptibility. We envisage the use of this method for massively parallelizable AST tests and fast detection of drug-resistant pathogens

Upstream Binding of Idling RNA Polymerase Modulates Transcription Initiation from a Nearby Promoter

The bacterial gene regulatory regions often demonstrate distinctly organized arrays of RNA polymerase binding sites of illdefined function. Previously we observed a module of closely spaced polymerase binding sites upstream of the canonical promoter of the Escherichia coli fis operon. FIS is an abundant nucleoid- associated protein involved in adjusting the chromosomal DNA topology to changing cellular physiology. Here we show that simultaneous binding of the polymerase at the canonical fis promoter and an upstream transcriptionally inactive site stabilizes a RNAP oligomeric complex in vitro. Wefurther show that modulation of the upstream binding of RNA polymerase affects the fis promoter activity both in vivo and in vitro. The effect of the upstream RNA polymerase binding on the fis promoter activity depends on the spatial arrangement of polymerase binding sites and DNA supercoiling. Our data suggest that a specific DNA geometry of the nucleoprotein complex stabilized on concomitant binding of RNA polymerase molecules at the fis promoter and the upstream region acts as a topological device regulating the fis transcription. We propose that transcriptionally inactive RNA polymerase molecules can act as accessory factors regulating the transcription initiation from a nearby promoter