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Howard CB, Rabinovitch A, Yehezkel G, Zaritsky A. Tight coupling of cell width to nucleoid structure in Escherichia coli. Biophys J 2024; 123:502-508. [PMID: 38243596 PMCID: PMC10912912 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2024.01.015] [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: 07/09/2023] [Revised: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Cell dimensions of rod-shaped bacteria such as Escherichia coli are connected to mass growth and chromosome replication. During their interdivision cycle (τ min), cells enlarge by elongation only, but at faster growth in richer media, they are also wider. Changes in width W upon nutritional shift-up (shortening τ) occur during the division process. The elusive signal directing the mechanism for W determination is likely related to the tightly linked duplications of the nucleoid (DNA) and the sacculus (peptidoglycan), the only two structures (macromolecules) existing in a single copy that are coupled, temporally and spatially. Six known parameters related to the nucleoid structure and replication are reasonable candidates to convey such a signal, all simple functions of the key number of replication positions n(=C/τ), the ratio between the rates of growth (τ-1) and of replication (C-1). The current analysis of available literature-recorded data discovered that, of these, nucleoid complexity NC[=(2n-1)/(n×ln2)] is by far the most likely parameter affecting cell width W. The exceedingly high correlations found between these two seemingly unrelated measures (NC and W) indicate that coupling between them is of major importance to the species' survival. As an exciting corollary, to the best of our knowledge, a new, indirect approach to estimate DNA replication rate is revealed. Potential involvement of DNA topoisomerases in W determination is also proposed and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles B Howard
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
| | - Avinoam Rabinovitch
- Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
| | - Galit Yehezkel
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
| | - Arieh Zaritsky
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
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Zaritsky A. Extending Validity of the Bacterial Cell Cycle Model through Thymine Limitation: A Personal View. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:life13040906. [PMID: 37109435 PMCID: PMC10146623 DOI: 10.3390/life13040906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The contemporary view of bacterial physiology was established in 1958 at the "Copenhagen School", culminating a decade later in a detailed description of the cell cycle based on four parameters. This model has been subsequently supported by numerous studies, nicknamed BCD (The Bacterial Cell-Cycle Dogma). It readily explains, quantitatively, the coupling between chromosome replication and cell division, size and DNA content. An important derivative is the number of replication positions n, the ratio between the time C to complete a round of replication and the cell mass doubling time τ; the former is constant at any temperature and the latter is determined by the medium composition. Changes in cell width W are highly correlated to n through the equation for so-called nucleoid complexity NC (=(2n - 1)/(ln2 × n)), the amount of DNA per terC (i.e., chromosome) in genome equivalents. The narrow range of potential n can be dramatically extended using the method of thymine limitation of thymine-requiring mutants, which allows a more rigorous testing of the hypothesis that the nucleoid structure is the primary source of the signal that determines W during cell division. How this putative signal is relayed from the nucleoid to the divisome is still highly enigmatic. The aim of this Opinion article is to suggest the possibility of a new signaling function for nucleoid DNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arieh Zaritsky
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, Life Sciences Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Kiryat Bergman, HaShalom St. 1, Be'er-Sheva 8410501, Israel
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Mitra D, Pande S, Chatterji A. Polymer architecture orchestrates the segregation and spatial organization of replicating E. coli chromosomes in slow growth. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:5615-5631. [PMID: 35861071 DOI: 10.1039/d2sm00734g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The mechanism of chromosome segregation and organization in the bacterial cell cycle of E. coli is one of the least understood aspects in its life cycle. The E. coli chromosome is often modelled as a bead spring ring polymer. We introduce cross-links in the DNA-ring polymer, resulting in the formation of loops within each replicating bacterial chromosome. We use simulations to show that the chosen polymer-topology ensures its self-organization along the cell long-axis, such that various chromosomal loci get spatially localized as seen in vivo. The localization of loci arises due to entropic repulsion between polymer loops within each daughter DNA confined in a cylinder. The cellular addresses of the loci in our model are in fair agreement with those seen in experiments as given in J. A. Cass et al., Biophys. J., 2016, 110, 2597-2609. We also show that the adoption of such modified polymer architectures by the daughter DNAs leads to an enhanced propensity of their spatial segregation. Secondly, we match other experimentally reported results, including observation of the cohesion time and the ter-transition. Additionally, the contact map generated from our simulations reproduces the macro-domain like organization as seen in the experimentally obtained Hi-C map. Lastly, we have also proposed a plausible reconciliation of the 'Train Track' and the 'Replication Factory' models which provide conflicting descriptions of the spatial organization of the replication forks. Thus, we reconcile observations from complementary experimental techniques probing bacterial chromosome organization.
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Liang B, Quan B, Li J, Loton C, Bredeche MF, Lindner AB, Xu L. Artificial modulation of cell width significantly affects the division time of Escherichia coli. Sci Rep 2020; 10:17847. [PMID: 33082450 PMCID: PMC7576201 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-74778-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacterial cells have characteristic spatial and temporal scales. For instance, Escherichia coli, the typical rod-shaped bacteria, always maintains a relatively constant cell width and cell division time. However, whether the external physical perturbation of cell width has an impact on cell division time remains largely unexplored. In this work, we developed two microchannel chips, namely straight channels and ‘necked’ channels, to precisely regulate the width of E. coli cells and to investigate the correlation between cell width and division time of the cells. Our results show that, in the straight channels, the wide cells divide much slower than narrow cells. In the ‘necked’ channels, the cell division is remarkably promoted compared to that in straight channels with the same width. Besides, fluorescence time-lapse microscopy imaging of FtsZ dynamics shows that the cell pre-constriction time is more sensitive to cell width perturbation than cell constriction time. Finally, we revealed a significant anticorrelation between the death rate and the division rate of cell populations with different widths. Our work provides new insights into the correlation between the geometrical property and division time of E. coli cells and sheds new light on the future study of spatial–temporal correlation in cell physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baihui Liang
- Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People's Republic of China
| | - Baogang Quan
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, People's Republic of China.,School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China
| | - Junjie Li
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, People's Republic of China.,School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China.,Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, 523808, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - Chantal Loton
- Systems Engineering and Evolution Dynamics Lab, INSERM U1001, Paris Descartes University, 75014, Paris, France.,Faculty of Medicine, Paris Descartes University, 75014, Paris, France
| | - Marie-Florence Bredeche
- Systems Engineering and Evolution Dynamics Lab, INSERM U1001, Paris Descartes University, 75014, Paris, France.,Faculty of Medicine, Paris Descartes University, 75014, Paris, France
| | - Ariel B Lindner
- Systems Engineering and Evolution Dynamics Lab, INSERM U1001, Paris Descartes University, 75014, Paris, France.,Faculty of Medicine, Paris Descartes University, 75014, Paris, France.,Centre for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI), Paris Descartes University, 75014, Paris, France
| | - Luping Xu
- Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People's Republic of China.
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Martín CM, Zaritsky A, Fishov I, Guzmán EC. Transient enhanced cell division by blocking DNA synthesis in Escherichia coli. MICROBIOLOGY (READING, ENGLAND) 2020; 166:516-521. [PMID: 32118529 PMCID: PMC7376268 DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.000888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2019] [Accepted: 01/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Duplication of the bacterial nucleoid is necessary for cell division hence specific arrest of DNA replication inhibits divisions culminating in filamentation, nucleoid dispersion and appearance of a-nucleated cells. It is demonstrated here that during the first 10 min however, Escherichia coli enhanced residual divisions: the proportion of constricted cells doubled (to 40%), nucleoids contracted and cells remodelled dimensions: length decreased and width increased. The preliminary data provides further support to the existence of temporal and spatial couplings between the nucleoid/replisome and the sacculus/divisome, and is consistent with the idea that bacillary bacteria modulate width during the division process exclusively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmen Mata Martín
- Departamento de Bioquímica Biología Molecular y Genética, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz 06071, Spain
- Present address: CICAB Clinical Research Centre, Extremadura University Hospital and Medical School, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Arieh Zaritsky
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Itzhak Fishov
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Elena C. Guzmán
- Departamento de Bioquímica Biología Molecular y Genética, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz 06071, Spain
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