The structure and assembly dynamics of plasmid actin AlfA imply a novel mechanism of DNA segregation.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial cytoskeletal proteins participate in a variety of processes, including cell division and DNA segregation. Polymerization of one plasmid-encoded, actin-like protein, ParM, segregates DNA by pushing two plasmids in opposite directions and forms the current paradigm for understanding active plasmid segregation. An essential feature of ParM assembly is its dynamically instability, the stochastic switching between growth and disassembly. It is unclear whether dynamic instability is an essential feature of all actin-like protein-based segregation mechanisms or whether bacterial filaments can segregate plasmids by different mechanisms. We expressed and purified AlfA, a plasmid-segregating actin-like protein from Bacillus subtilis, and found that it forms filaments with a unique structur

SUBMITTER: Polka JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2753045 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature