Association of the Chromosome Replication Initiator DnaA with the Escherichia coli Inner Membrane In Vivo: Quantity and Mode of Binding

DnaA initiates chromosome replication in most known bacteria and its activity is controlled so that this event occurs only once every cell division cycle. ATP in the active ATP-DnaA is hydrolyzed after initiation and the resulting ADP is replaced with ATP on the verge of the next initiation. Two putative recycling mechanisms depend on the binding of DnaA either to the membrane or to specific chromosomal sites, promoting nucleotide dissociation. While there is no doubt that DnaA interacts with artificial membranes in vitro, it is still controversial as to whether it binds the cytoplasmic membrane in vivo. In this work we looked for DnaA-membrane interaction in E. coli cells by employing cell fractionation with both native and fluorescent DnaA hybrids. We show that about 10% of cellular DnaA is reproducibly membrane-associated. This small fraction might be physiologically significant and represent the free DnaA available for initiation, rather than the vast majority bound to the datA reservoir. Using the combination of mCherry with a variety of DnaA fragments, we demonstrate that the membrane binding function is delocalized on the surface of the protein’s domain III, rather than confined to a particular sequence. We propose a new binding-bending mechanism to explain the membrane-induced nucleotide release from DnaA. This mechanism would be fundamental to the initiation of replication

Technik der infrarotspektroskopischen Harnsteinanalyse

Peer Reviewe

A Role for Nonessential Domain II of Initiator Protein, DnaA, in Replication Control

The initiation of replication in bacteria is regulated via the initiator protein DnaA. ATP-bound DnaA binds to multiple sequences at the origin of replication, oriC, unwinding the DNA and promoting the binding of DnaB helicase. From an Escherichia coli mutant highly perturbed for replication control, obgE∷Tn5-EZ seqAΔ, we isolated multiple spontaneous suppressor mutants with enhanced growth and viability. These suppressors suppressed the replication control defects of mutants in seqA alone and genetically mapped to the essential dnaA replication initiator gene. DNA sequence analysis of four independent isolates revealed an identical deletion of the DnaA-coding region at a repeated hexanucleotide sequence, causing a loss of 25 amino acids in domain II of the DnaA protein. Previous work has established no function for this region of protein, and deletions in the region, unlike other domains of the DnaA protein, do not produce lethality. Flow cytometric analysis established that this allele, dnaAΔ96-120, ameliorated the over-replication phenotype of seqA mutants and reduced the DNA content of wild-type strains; virtually identical effects were produced by loss of the DnaA-positive regulatory protein DiaA. DiaA binds to multiple DnaA subunits and is thought to promote cooperative DnaA binding to weak affinity DNA sites through interactions with DnaA in domains I and/or II. The dnaAΔ96-120 mutation did not affect DiaA binding in pull-down assays, and we propose that domain II, like DiaA, is required to promote optimal DnaB recruitment to oriC

Rechnerunterstuetzte Kohlenwasserstoffbestimmung in Abwasserproben

SIGLECopy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Prevention of Alzheimer's disease-associated Abeta aggregation by rationally designed nonpeptidic beta-sheet ligands.

A new concept is introduced for the rational design of β-sheet ligands, which prevent protein aggregation. Oligomeric acylated aminopyrazoles with a donor-acceptor-donor (DAD) hydrogen bond pattern complementary to that of a β-sheet efficiently block the solvent-exposed β-sheet portions in Aβ-(1–40) and thereby prevent formation of insoluble protein aggregates. Density gradient centrifugation revealed that in the initial phase, the size of Aβ aggregates was efficiently kept between the trimeric and 15-meric state, whereas after 5 days an additional high molecular weight fraction appeared. With fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) exactly those two, i.e. a dimeric aminopyrazole with an oxalyl spacer and a trimeric head-to-tail connected aminopyrazole, of nine similar aminopyrazole ligands were identified as efficient aggregation retardants whose minimum energy conformations showed a perfect complementarity to a β-sheet. The concentration dependence of the inhibitory effect of a trimeric aminopyrazole derivative allowed an estimation of the dissociation constant in the range of 10–5 m. Finally, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was used to determine the aggregation kinetics of Aβ-(1–40) in the absence and in the presence of the ligands. From the comparable decrease in Aβ monomer concentration, we conclude that these β-sheet ligands do not prevent the initial oligomerization of monomeric Aβ but rather block further aggregation of spontaneously formed small oligomers. Together with the results from density gradient centrifugation and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy it is now possible to restrict the approximate size of soluble Aβ aggregates formed in the presence of both inhibitors from 3- to 15-mers