2xka

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Low copy number plasmids often depend on accurate partitioning systems for their continued survival. Generally, such systems consist of a centromere-like region of DNA, a DNA-binding adaptor, and a polymerizing cytomotive filament. Together these components drive newly replicated plasmids to opposite ends of the dividing cell. The Bacillus thuringiensis plasmid pBToxis relies on a filament of the tubulin/FtsZ-like protein TubZ for its segregation. By combining crystallography and electron microscopy, we have determined the structure of this filament. We explain how GTP hydrolysis weakens the subunit-subunit contact and also shed light on the partitioning of the plasmid-adaptor complex. The double helical superstructure of TubZ filaments is unusual for tubulin-like proteins. Filaments of ParM, the actin-like partitioning protein, are also double helical. We suggest that convergent evolution shapes these different types of cytomotive filaments toward a general mechanism for plasmid separation.

Filament structure of bacterial tubulin homologue TubZ.,Aylett CH, Wang Q, Michie KA, Amos LA, Lowe J Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Oct 25. PMID:20974911^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.