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The Facts and Family Secrets of Plasmids That Replicate via the Rolling-Circle Mechanism. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 2021; 86:e0022220. [PMID: 34878299 DOI: 10.1128/mmbr.00222-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Plasmids are self-replicative DNA elements that are transferred between bacteria. Plasmids encode not only antibiotic resistance genes but also adaptive genes that allow their hosts to colonize new niches. Plasmid transfer is achieved by conjugation (or mobilization), phage-mediated transduction, and natural transformation. Thousands of plasmids use the rolling-circle mechanism for their propagation (RCR plasmids). They are ubiquitous, have a high copy number, exhibit a broad host range, and often can be mobilized among bacterial species. Based upon the replicon, RCR plasmids have been grouped into several families, the best known of them being pC194 and pUB110 (Rep_1 family), pMV158 and pE194 (Rep_2 family), and pT181 and pC221 (Rep_trans family). Genetic traits of RCR plasmids are analyzed concerning (i) replication mediated by a DNA-relaxing initiator protein and its interactions with the cognate DNA origin, (ii) lagging-strand origins of replication, (iii) antibiotic resistance genes, (iv) mobilization functions, (v) replication control, performed by proteins and/or antisense RNAs, and (vi) the participating host-encoded functions. The mobilization functions include a relaxase initiator of transfer (Mob), an origin of transfer, and one or two small auxiliary proteins. There is a family of relaxases, the MOBV family represented by plasmid pMV158, which has been revisited and updated. Family secrets, like a putative open reading frame of unknown function, are reported. We conclude that basic research on RCR plasmids is of importance, and our perspectives contemplate the concept of One Earth because we should incorporate bacteria into our daily life by diminishing their virulence and, at the same time, respecting their genetic diversity.
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Abstract
Plasmids are DNA entities that undergo controlled replication independent of the chromosomal DNA, a crucial step that guarantees the prevalence of the plasmid in its host. DNA replication has to cope with the incapacity of the DNA polymerases to start de novo DNA synthesis, and different replication mechanisms offer diverse solutions to this problem. Rolling-circle replication (RCR) is a mechanism adopted by certain plasmids, among other genetic elements, that represents one of the simplest initiation strategies, that is, the nicking by a replication initiator protein on one parental strand to generate the primer for leading-strand initiation and a single priming site for lagging-strand synthesis. All RCR plasmid genomes consist of a number of basic elements: leading strand initiation and control, lagging strand origin, phenotypic determinants, and mobilization, generally in that order of frequency. RCR has been mainly characterized in Gram-positive bacterial plasmids, although it has also been described in Gram-negative bacterial or archaeal plasmids. Here we aim to provide an overview of the RCR plasmids' lifestyle, with emphasis on their characteristic traits, promiscuity, stability, utility as vectors, etc. While RCR is one of the best-characterized plasmid replication mechanisms, there are still many questions left unanswered, which will be pointed out along the way in this review.
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Lorenzo-Díaz F, Fernández-López C, Garcillán-Barcia MP, Espinosa M. Bringing them together: plasmid pMV158 rolling circle replication and conjugation under an evolutionary perspective. Plasmid 2014; 74:15-31. [PMID: 24942190 PMCID: PMC7103276 DOI: 10.1016/j.plasmid.2014.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2014] [Revised: 05/21/2014] [Accepted: 05/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Rolling circle-replicating plasmids constitute a vast family that is particularly abundant in, but not exclusive of, Gram-positive bacteria. These plasmids are constructed as cassettes that harbor genes involved in replication and its control, mobilization, resistance determinants and one or two origins of lagging strand synthesis. Any given plasmid may contain all, some, or just only the replication cassette. We discuss here the family of the promiscuous streptococcal plasmid pMV158, with emphasis on its mobilization functions: the product of the mobM gene, prototype of the MOBV relaxase family, and its cognate origin of transfer, oriT. Amongst the subfamily of MOBV1 plasmids, three groups of oriT sequences, represented by plasmids pMV158, pT181, and p1414 were identified. In the same subfamily, we found four types of single-strand origins, namely ssoA, ssoU, ssoW, and ssoT. We found that plasmids of the rolling-circle Rep_2 family (to which pMV158 belongs) are more frequently found in Lactobacillales than in any other bacterial order, whereas Rep_1 initiators seemed to prefer hosts included in the Bacillales order. In parallel, MOBV1 relaxases associated with Rep_2 initiators tended to cluster separately from those linked to Rep_1 plasmids. The updated inventory of MOBV1 plasmids still contains exclusively mobilizable elements, since no genes associated with conjugative transfer (other than the relaxase) were detected. These plasmids proved to have a great plasticity at using a wide variety of conjugative apparatuses. The promiscuous recognition of non-cognate oriT sequences and the role of replication origins for lagging-strand origin in the host range of these plasmids are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabián Lorenzo-Díaz
- Unidad de Investigación, Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria and Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
| | - Cris Fernández-López
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC, Ramiro de Maeztu, 9, E-28040 Madrid, Spain.
| | - M Pilar Garcillán-Barcia
- Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria (IBBTEC), Universidad de Cantabria - CSIC-SODERCAN, Santander, Cantabria, Spain.
| | - Manuel Espinosa
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC, Ramiro de Maeztu, 9, E-28040 Madrid, Spain.
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Thomas J, Lee CA, Grossman AD. A conserved helicase processivity factor is needed for conjugation and replication of an integrative and conjugative element. PLoS Genet 2013; 9:e1003198. [PMID: 23326247 PMCID: PMC3542172 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2012] [Accepted: 11/12/2012] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are agents of horizontal gene transfer and have major roles in evolution and acquisition of new traits, including antibiotic resistances. ICEs are found integrated in a host chromosome and can excise and transfer to recipient bacteria via conjugation. Conjugation involves nicking of the ICE origin of transfer (oriT) by the ICE–encoded relaxase and transfer of the nicked single strand of ICE DNA. For ICEBs1 of Bacillus subtilis, nicking of oriT by the ICEBs1 relaxase NicK also initiates rolling circle replication. This autonomous replication of ICEBs1 is critical for stability of the excised element in growing cells. We found a conserved and previously uncharacterized ICE gene that is required for conjugation and replication of ICEBs1. Our results indicate that this gene, helP (formerly ydcP), encodes a helicase processivity factor that enables the host-encoded helicase PcrA to unwind the double-stranded ICEBs1 DNA. HelP was required for both conjugation and replication of ICEBs1, and HelP and NicK were the only ICEBs1 proteins needed for replication from ICEBs1 oriT. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we measured association of HelP, NicK, PcrA, and the host-encoded single-strand DNA binding protein Ssb with ICEBs1. We found that NicK was required for association of HelP and PcrA with ICEBs1 DNA. HelP was required for association of PcrA and Ssb with ICEBs1 regions distal, but not proximal, to oriT, indicating that PcrA needs HelP to progress beyond nicked oriT and unwind ICEBs1. In vitro, HelP directly stimulated the helicase activity of the PcrA homologue UvrD. Our findings demonstrate that HelP is a helicase processivity factor needed for efficient unwinding of ICEBs1 for conjugation and replication. Homologues of HelP and PcrA-type helicases are encoded on many known and putative ICEs. We propose that these factors are essential for ICE conjugation, replication, and genetic stability. Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are mobile DNA elements that transfer genetic material between bacteria, driving bacterial evolution and the acquisition of new traits, including the spread of antibiotic resistances. ICEs typically reside integrated in a bacterial chromosome and are passively propagated along with the host genome. Under some conditions, an ICE can excise from the chromosome to form a circle and, if appropriate recipient bacteria are present, can transfer from donor to recipient. It has recently been recognized that some, and perhaps many, ICEs undergo autonomous replication after excision from the host chromosome and that replication is important for stability and propagation of these ICEs in growing cells. Using ICEBs1, an ICE from Bacillus subtilis, we found a conserved and previously uncharacterized ICE gene that is required for conjugation and replication. We found that this gene, helP, encodes a helicase processivity factor that associates with ICEBs1 DNA and enables the host-encoded helicase PcrA to unwind the double-stranded ICEBs1 DNA, making a template for both conjugation and DNA replication. Homologues of helP are found in many ICEs, indicating that this mechanism of unwinding is likely conserved among these elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob Thomas
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Catherine A. Lee
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Alan D. Grossman
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Leuba SH, Anand SP, Harp JM, Khan SA. Expedient placement of two fluorescent dyes for investigating dynamic DNA protein interactions in real time. Chromosome Res 2008; 16:451-67. [PMID: 18461484 PMCID: PMC2413326 DOI: 10.1007/s10577-008-1235-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Many questions in molecular and cellular biology can be reduced to questions about 'who talks to whom, when and how frequently'. Here, we review approaches we have used with single-pair fluorescence resonance energy transfer (spFRET) to follow the motions between two well-placed fluorescent probes to ask similar questions. We describe two systems. We have used a nucleosomal system in which the naked DNA molecule has the acceptor and donor dyes too far apart for FRET to occur whereas the dyes are close enough in the reconstituted nucleosome for FRET. As these individual nucleosomes were tethered on a surface, we could follow dynamics in the repositioning of these two dyes, inferring that nucleosomes stochastically and reversibly open and close. These results imply that most of the DNA on the nucleosome can be sporadically accessible to regulatory proteins and proteins that track the DNA double helix. In the case of following the binding of recombination protein RecA to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and the RecA filament displacement by DNA helicase motor PcrA, the dsDNA template is prepared with the two dyes close enough to each other to generate high FRET. Binding of the RecA molecules to form a filament lengthens the dsDNA molecule 1.5-fold and reduces the FRET accordingly. Once added, DNA motor protein helicase PcrA can displace the RecA filament with concomitant return of the DNA molecule to its original B-form and high FRET state. Thus, appropriately placed fluorescent dyes can be used to monitor conformational changes occurring in DNA and or proteins and provide increased sensitivity for investigating dynamic DNA-protein interactions in real time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanford H Leuba
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Swanson School of Engineering, Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
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Zhang W, Dillingham MS, Thomas CD, Allen S, Roberts CJ, Soultanas P. Directional loading and stimulation of PcrA helicase by the replication initiator protein RepD. J Mol Biol 2007; 371:336-48. [PMID: 17574572 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2007.05.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2007] [Revised: 05/11/2007] [Accepted: 05/17/2007] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The replication initiator protein RepD recruits the Bacillus PcrA helicase directly onto the (-) strand of the plasmid replication origin oriD. The 5'-phosphate group at the nick is essential for loading, suggesting that it is the RepD covalently linked to the 5'-phosphate group at the nick that loads the helicase onto the oriD. The products of the unwinding reaction were visualised by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and monitored in real time by fluorescence spectroscopy. RepD remains associated with PcrA and stimulates processive directional unwinding of the plasmid at approximately 60 bp s(-1). In the absence of RepD, PcrA retains the ability to bind to a pre-nicked oriD, but engages the 3' end of the nick and translocates 3'-5' along the (+) strand in a poorly processive fashion. Our data provide a unique insight into the recruitment of PcrA-like helicases to DNA-nick sites and the processive translocation of the PcrA motor as a component of the plasmid replication apparatus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenke Zhang
- Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
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Anand SP, Zheng H, Bianco PR, Leuba SH, Khan SA. DNA helicase activity of PcrA is not required for the displacement of RecA protein from DNA or inhibition of RecA-mediated strand exchange. J Bacteriol 2007; 189:4502-9. [PMID: 17449621 PMCID: PMC1913354 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00376-07] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
PcrA is a conserved DNA helicase present in all gram-positive bacteria. Bacteria lacking PcrA show high levels of recombination. Lethality induced by PcrA depletion can be overcome by suppressor mutations in the recombination genes recFOR. RecFOR proteins load RecA onto single-stranded DNA during recombination. Here we test whether an essential function of PcrA is to interfere with RecA-mediated DNA recombination in vitro. We demonstrate that PcrA can inhibit the RecA-mediated DNA strand exchange reaction in vitro. Furthermore, PcrA displaced RecA from RecA nucleoprotein filaments. Interestingly, helicase mutants of PcrA also displaced RecA from DNA and inhibited RecA-mediated DNA strand exchange. Employing a novel single-pair fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based assay, we demonstrate a lengthening of double-stranded DNA upon polymerization of RecA and show that PcrA and its helicase mutants can reverse this process. Our results show that the displacement of RecA from DNA by PcrA is not dependent on its translocase activity. Further, our results show that the helicase activity of PcrA, although not essential, might play a facilitatory role in the RecA displacement reaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Syam P Anand
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA
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Titok M, Suski C, Dalmais B, Ehrlich SD, Jannière L. The replicative polymerases PolC and DnaE are required for theta replication of the Bacillus subtilis plasmid pBS72. MICROBIOLOGY-SGM 2006; 152:1471-1478. [PMID: 16622063 DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.28693-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Plasmids are the tools of choice for studying bacterial functions involved in DNA maintenance. Here a genetic study on the replication of a novel, low-copy-number, Bacillus subtilis plasmid, pBS72, is reported. The results show that two plasmid elements, the initiator protein RepA and an iteron-containing origin, and at least nine host-encoded replication proteins, the primosomal proteins DnaB, DnaC, DnaD, DnaG and DnaI, the DNA polymerases DnaE and PolC, and the polymerase cofactors DnaN and DnaX, are required for pBS72 replication. On the contrary, the cellular initiators DnaA and PriA, the helicase PcrA and DNA polymerase I are dispensable. From this, it is inferred that pBS72 replication is of the theta type and is initiated by an original mechanism. Indirect evidence suggests that during this process the DnaC helicase might be delivered to the plasmid origin by the weakly active DnaD pathway stimulated by a predicted interaction between DnaC and a domain of RepA homologous to the major DnaC-binding domain of the cellular initiator DnaA. The plasmid pBS72 replication fork appears to require the same functions as the bacterial chromosome and the unrelated plasmid pAMbeta1. Most importantly, this replication machinery contains the two type C polymerases, PolC and DnaE. As the mechanism of initiation of the three genomes is substantially different, this suggests that both type C polymerases might be required in any Cairns replication in B. subtilis and presumably in other bacteria encoding PolC and DnaE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Titok
- Belarussian State University, Biological Faculty, Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Minsk 220050, 4 Scorina Avenue, Belarus
| | | | - Bérengère Dalmais
- Laboratoire de Génétique Microbienne, Bâtiment des Biotechnologies, INRA, 78352 Jouy en Josas, France
| | - S Dusko Ehrlich
- Laboratoire de Génétique Microbienne, Bâtiment des Biotechnologies, INRA, 78352 Jouy en Josas, France
| | - Laurent Jannière
- Laboratoire de Génétique Microbienne, Bâtiment des Biotechnologies, INRA, 78352 Jouy en Josas, France
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Ruiz-Masó JA, Anand SP, Espinosa M, Khan SA, del Solar G. Genetic and biochemical characterization of the Streptococcus pneumoniae PcrA helicase and its role in plasmid rolling circle replication. J Bacteriol 2006; 188:7416-25. [PMID: 16936036 PMCID: PMC1636267 DOI: 10.1128/jb.01010-06] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
PcrA is a chromosomally encoded DNA helicase of gram-positive bacteria involved in replication of rolling circle replicating plasmids. Efficient interaction between PcrA and the plasmid-encoded replication initiator (Rep) protein is considered a requirement for the plasmid to replicate in a given host, and thus, the ability of a Rep protein to interact with heterologous PcrA helicases has been invoked as a determinant of plasmid promiscuity. We characterized transcription of the Streptococcus pneumoniae pcrA gene in its genetic context and studied the biochemical properties of its product, the PcrA(Spn) helicase. Transcription of the pneumococcal pcrA gene was directed by promoter Pa, consisting of an extended -10 box. Promoter Pa also accounted for expression of a second essential gene, radC, which was transcribed with much lower efficiency than pcrA, probably due to the presence of a terminator/attenuator sequence located between the two genes. PcrA(Spn) displayed single-stranded DNA-dependent ATPase activity. PcrA(Spn) showed 5'-->3' and 3'-->5' helicase activities and bound efficiently to partially duplex DNA containing a hairpin structure adjacent to a 6-nucleotide 5' or 3' single-stranded tail and one unpaired (flap) nucleotide in the complementary strand. PcrA(Spn) interacted specifically with RepC, the initiator of staphylococcal plasmid pT181. Although the pneumococcal helicase was able to initiate unwinding of the RepC-nicked pT181 DNA, it was much less processive in this activity than the cognate staphylococcal PcrA protein. Accordingly, PcrA(Spn) was inefficient in in vitro replication of pT181, and perhaps as a consequence, this plasmid could not be established in S. pneumoniae.
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Affiliation(s)
- J A Ruiz-Masó
- Department of Protein Structure and Function, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC, Ramiro de Maeztu 9, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
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