Effect of Different Crowding Agents on the Architectural Properties of the Bacterial Nucleoid-Associated Protein HU.

ABSTRACT: HU is a nucleoid-associated protein expressed in most eubacteria at a high amount of copies (tens of thousands). The protein is believed to bind across the genome to organize and compact the DNA. Most of the studies on HU have been carried out in a simple in vitro system, and to what extent these observations can be extrapolated to a living cell is unclear. In this study, we investigate the DNA binding properties of HU under conditions approximating physiological ones. We report that these properties are influenced by both macromolecular crowding and salt conditions. We use three different crowding agents (blotting grade blocker (BGB), bovine serum albumin (BSA), and polyethylene glycol 8000 (PEG8000)) as well as two different MgCl₂ conditions to mimic the intracellular environm

SUBMITTER: Lin SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7765392 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature