Origin and Evolution of Carboxysome Positioning Systems in Cyanobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Carboxysomes are protein-based organelles that are essential for allowing cyanobacteria to fix CO2. Previously, we identified a two-component system, McdAB, responsible for equidistantly positioning carboxysomes in the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (MacCready JS, Hakim P, Young EJ, Hu L, Liu J, Osteryoung KW, Vecchiarelli AG, Ducat DC. 2018. Protein gradients on the nucleoid position the carbon-fixing organelles of cyanobacteria. eLife 7:pii:e39723). McdA, a ParA-type ATPase, nonspecifically binds the nucleoid in the presence of ATP. McdB, a novel factor that directly binds carboxysomes, displaces McdA from the nucleoid. Removal of McdA from the nucleoid in the vicinity of carboxysomes by McdB causes a global break in McdA symmetry, and carboxysome motion occurs via

SUBMITTER: MacCready JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7182216 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature