The stable maintenance of low-copy-number plasmids in bacteria is actively driven by partition mechanisms that are responsible for the positioning of plasmids inside the cell. Partition systems are ubiquitous in the microbial world and are encoded by many bacterial chromosomes as well as plasmids. These systems, although different in sequence and mechanism, typically consist of two proteins and a DNA partition site, or prokaryotic centromere, on the plasmid or chromosome. One protein binds site-specifically to the centromere to form a partition complex, and the other protein uses the energy of nucleotide binding and hydrolysis to transport the plasmid, via interactions with this partition complex inside the cell. For plasmids, this minimal cassette is sufficient to direct proper segregation in bacterial cells. There has been significant progress in the last several years in our understanding of partition mechanisms. Two general areas that have developed are (i) the structural biology of partition proteins and their interactions with DNA and (ii) the action and dynamics of the partition ATPases that drive the process. In addition, systems that use tubulin-like GTPases to partition plasmids have recently been identified. In this chapter, we concentrate on these recent developments and the molecular details of plasmid partition mechanisms.

The faithful segregation, or “partition”, of many low-copy-number bacterial plasmids is driven by plasmid-encoded ATPases that are represented by the P1 plasmid ParA protein. ParA binds to the bacterial nucleoid via an ATP-dependent non-specific DNA (nsDNA)1 binding activity, which is essential for partition. ParA also has a site-specific DNA binding activity to the par operator (parOP), which requires either ATP or ADP, and which is essential for it to act as a transcriptional repressor but is dispensable for partition. Here we examine how DNA binding by ParA contributes to the relative distribution of its plasmid partition and repressor activities, using a ParA with an alanine substitution at Arg351, a residue previously predicted to participate in site-specific DNA binding. In vivo, the parAR351A allele is compromised for partition, but its repressor activity is dramatically improved so that it behaves as a “super-repressor”. In vitro, ParAR351A binds and hydrolyzes ATP, and undergoes a specific conformational change required for nsDNA binding, but its nsDNA binding activity is significantly damaged. This defect in turn significantly reduces the assembly and stability of partition complexes formed by the interaction of ParA with ParB, the centromere-binding protein, and DNA. In contrast, the R351A change shows only a mild defect in site-specific DNA binding. We conclude that the partition defect is due to altered nsDNA binding kinetics and affinity for the bacterial chromosome. Further, the super-repressor phenotype is explained by an increased pool of non-nucleoid bound ParA that is competent to bind parOP and repress transcription.

Summary The ATP‐bound form of the Escherichia coli DnaA protein binds ‘DnaA boxes’ present in the origin of replication (oriC) and operator sites of several genes, including dnaA, to co‐ordinate their transcription with initiation of replication. The Hda protein, together with the β sliding clamp, stimulates the ATPase activity of DnaA via a process termed regulatory inactivation of DnaA (RIDA), to regulate the activity of DnaA in DNA replication. Here, we used the mutant dnaN159 strain, which expresses the β159 clamp protein, to gain insight into how the actions of Hda are co‐ordinated with replication. Elevated expression of Hda impeded growth of the dnaN159 strain in a Pol II‐ and Pol IV‐dependent manner, suggesting a role for Hda managing the actions of these Pols. In a wild‐type strain, elevated levels of Hda conferred sensitivity to nitrofurazone, and suppressed the frequency of −1 frameshift mutations characteristic of Pol IV, while loss of hda conferred cold sensitivity. Using the dnaN159 strain, we identified 24 novel hda alleles, four of which supported E. coli viability despite their RIDA defect. Taken together, these findings suggest that although one or more Hda functions are essential for cell viability, RIDA may be dispensable.

The ATP-bound form of the Escherichia coli DnaA replication initiator protein remodels the chromosomal origin of replication, oriC, to load the replicative helicase. The primary mechanism for regulating the activity of DnaA involves the Hda and β clamp proteins, which act together to dramatically stimulate the intrinsic DNA-dependent ATPase activity of DnaA via a process termed Regulatory Inactivation of DnaA (RIDA). In addition to hyper-initiation, strains lacking hda function also exhibit cold sensitive growth at 30°C. Strains impaired for the other regulators of initiation (i.e., ΔseqA or ΔdatA) fail to exhibit cold sensitivity. The goal of this study was to gain insight into why loss of hda function impedes growth. We used a genetic approach to isolate 9 suppressors of Δhda cold sensitivity, and characterized the mechanistic basis by which these suppressors alleviated Δhda cold sensitivity. Taken together, our results provide strong support for the view that the fundamental defect associated with Δhda is diminished levels of DNA precursors, particularly dGTP and dATP. We discuss possible mechanisms by which the suppressors identified here may regulate dNTP pool size, as well as similarities in phenotypes between the Δhda strain and hda+ strains exposed to the ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor hydroxyurea.

The first chemical gas transducers that employ NanoBlock ® substrates are described. The sensing material, a carbon black/polymer composite, is deposited onto pre-patterned silicon wafers. Subsequent processing steps yield transducers with a small form factor (1.05 mm × 1.05 mm). These so termed "ChemiBlocks" exhibit response times t 90 < 3 s and recovery times t 10 < 15 s when exposed to the nerve gas simulant dimethyl methylphosphonate. Although only one composite composition is employed in this study, the extension to array-based differentiation of target analytes and interferents is anticipated to be straightforward given the maturity of C-black/polymer composite sensor technology. ChemiBlock transducers are well suited for application in radio-frequency microsensor systems that are currently under development.