Molecular handcuffing of the relaxosome at the origin of conjugative transfer of the plasmid R1162

Broad-host-range vector system for synthetic biology and biotechnology in cyanobacteria

Inspired by the developments of synthetic biology and the need for improved genetic tools to exploit cyanobacteria for the production of renewable bioproducts, we developed a versatile platform for the construction of broad-host-range vector systems. This platform includes the following features: (i) an efficient assembly strategy in which modules released from 3 to 4 donor plasmids or produced by polymerase chain reaction are assembled by isothermal assembly guided by short GC-rich overlap sequences. (ii) A growing library of molecular devices categorized in three major groups: (a) replication and chromosomal integration; (b) antibiotic resistance; (c) functional modules. These modules can be assembled in different combinations to construct a variety of autonomously replicating plasmids and suicide plasmids for gene knockout and knockin. (iii) A web service, the CYANO-VECTOR assembly portal, which was built to organize the various modules, facilitate the in silico construction of plasmids, and encourage the use of this system. This work also resulted in the construction of an improved broad-host-range replicon derived from RSF1010, which replicates in several phylogenetically distinct strains including a new experimental model strain Synechocystis sp. WHSyn, and the characterization of nine antibiotic cassettes, four reporter genes, four promoters, and a ribozyme-based insulator in several diverse cyanobacterial strains.

Origin pairing ('handcuffing') and unpairing in the control of P1 plasmid replication

The P1 plasmid origin has an array of five binding sites (iterons) for the plasmid-encoded initiator protein RepA. Saturation of these sites is required for initiation. Iterons can also pair via their bound RepAs. The reaction, called handcuffing, is believed to be the key to control initiation negatively. Here we have determined some of the mechanistic details of the reaction. We show that handcuffed RepA-iteron complexes dissociate when they are diluted or challenged with cold competitor iterons, suggesting spontaneous reversibility of the handcuffing reaction. The complex formation increases with increased RepA binding, but decreases upon saturation of binding. Complex formation also decreases in the presence of molecular chaperones (DnaK and DnaJ) that convert RepA dimers to monomers. This indicates that dimers participate in handcuffing, and that chaperones are involved in reversing handcuffing. They could play a direct role by reducing dimers and an indirect role by increasing monomers that would compete out the weaker binding dimers from the origin. We propose that an increased monomer to dimer ratio is the key to reverse handcuffing.

Elements in the co-evolution of relaxases and their origins of transfer

The central elements in the conjugative mobilization of most plasmids are the relaxase and its cognate origin of transfer (oriT). The relaxase of the plasmid R1162, together with its oriT, belong to a large and widely distributed family of related relaxase/oriT pairs. Several of the properties of these elements are considered for R1162 and for other members of this family with a view to understanding how systems for mobilization might have evolved.

Reconstitution of a staphylococcal plasmid-protein relaxation complex in vitro

The isolation of plasmid-protein relaxation complexes from bacteria is indicative of the plasmid nicking-closing equilibrium in vivo that serves to ready the plasmids for conjugal transfer. In pC221 and pC223, the components required for in vivo site- and strand-specific nicking at oriT are MobC and MobA. In order to investigate the minimal requirements for nicking in the absence of host-encoded factors, the reactions were reconstituted in vitro. Purified MobA and MobC, in the presence of Mg2+ or Mn2+, were found to nick at oriT with a concomitant phosphorylation-resistant modification at the 5' end of nic. The position of nic is consistent with that determined in vivo. MobA, MobC, and Mg2+ or Mn2+ therefore represent the minimal requirements for nicking activity. Cross-complementation analyses showed that the MobC proteins possess binding specificity for oriT DNA of either plasmid and are able to complement each other in the nicking reaction. Conversely, nicking by the MobA proteins is plasmid specific. This suggests the MobA proteins may encode the nicking specificity determinant.