Abstract

The mechanism of prokaryotic chromosome segregation is not known. MreB, an actin homolog, is a shape-determining factor in rod-shaped prokaryotic cells. Using immunofluorescence microscopy we found that MreB of Escherichia coli formed helical filaments located beneath the cell surface. Flow cytometric and cytological analyses indicated that MreB-depleted cells segregated their chromosomes in pairs, consistent with chromosome cohesion. Overexpression of wild-type MreB inhibited cell division but did not perturb chromosome segregation. Overexpression of mutant forms of MreB inhibited cell division, caused abnormal MreB filament morphology and induced severe localization defects of the nucleoid and of the oriC and terC chromosomal regions. The chromosomal terminus regions appeared cohered in both MreB-depleted cells and in cells overexpressing mutant forms of MreB. Our observations indicate that MreB filaments participate in directional chromosome movement and segregation.

Keywords

BiologyMreBEscherichia coliGeneticsEscherichia coli ProteinsChromosomeChromosome segregationCell biologyGene

MeSH Terms

Amino Acid SequenceChromosome SegregationDNA-Binding ProteinsEscherichia coliEscherichia coli ProteinsMolecular Sequence DataMutationOrigin Recognition ComplexRNATelomeraseViral Proteins

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Publication Info

Year
2003
Type
article
Volume
22
Issue
19
Pages
5283-5292
Citations
272
Access
Closed

External Links

Download PDF (Free) View on DOI.org PubMed Semantic Scholar

Social Impact

Altmetric
PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

272
OpenAlex
27
Influential
247
CrossRef

Cite This

Thomas Kruse, Jakob Møller‐Jensen, Anders Løbner‐Olesen et al. (2003). Dysfunctional MreB inhibits chromosome segregation in Escherichia coli. The EMBO Journal , 22 (19) , 5283-5292. https://doi.org/10.1093/emboj/cdg504

Identifiers

DOI
10.1093/emboj/cdg504
PMID
14517265
PMCID
PMC204487

Data Quality

Data completeness: 90%