Journal
BIOCHIMIE
Volume 92, Issue 12, Pages 1715-1721Publisher
ELSEVIER FRANCE-EDITIONS SCIENTIFIQUES MEDICALES ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2010.06.024
Keywords
Macromolecular crowding; Bacterial nucleoid proteins; DNA condensation
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Funding
- Netherlands Organisation of Science (NWO) [805.47.181]
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The volume of a typical Eschericia coli nucleoid is roughly 10(4) times smaller than the volume of a freely coiling linear DNA molecule with the same length as the E. coli genome. We review the main forces that have been suggested to contribute to this compaction factor: macromolecular crowding (that pushes the DNA together), DNA charge neutralization by various polycationic species (that glues the DNA together), and finally, DNA deformations due to DNA supercoiling and nucleoid proteins. The direct contributions of DNA supercoiling and nucleoid proteins to the total compaction factor are probably small. Instead, we argue that the formation of the bacterial nucleoid can be described as a consequence of the influence of macromolecular crowding on thick, supercoiled protein-DNA fibers, that have been partly charge neutralized by small multivalent cations. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
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