Ramming L, Stukenberg D, Sánchez Olmos MDC, Glatter T, Becker A, Schindler D. Rationally designed chromosome fusion does not prevent rapid growth of Vibrio natriegens.
Commun Biol 2024;
7:519. [PMID:
38698198 PMCID:
PMC11066055 DOI:
10.1038/s42003-024-06234-1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024] Open
Abstract
DNA replication is essential for the proliferation of all cells. Bacterial chromosomes are replicated bidirectionally from a single origin of replication, with replication proceeding at about 1000 bp per second. For the model organism, Escherichia coli, this translates into a replication time of about 40 min for its 4.6 Mb chromosome. Nevertheless, E. coli can propagate by overlapping replication cycles with a maximum short doubling time of 20 min. The fastest growing bacterium known, Vibrio natriegens, is able to replicate with a generation time of less than 10 min. It has a bipartite genome with chromosome sizes of 3.2 and 1.9 Mb. Is simultaneous replication from two origins a prerequisite for its rapid growth? We fused the two chromosomes of V. natriegens to create a strain carrying one chromosome with a single origin of replication. Compared to the parental, this strain showed no significant deviation in growth rate. This suggests that the split genome is not a prerequisite for rapid growth.
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