Hda, a novel DnaA-related protein, regulates the replication cycle in Escherichia coli

136

The regulation of initiation of DNA replication is crucial to ensure that the genome is replicated only once per cell cycle. In the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis, the function of the YabA protein in initiation control was assigned based on its interaction with the DnaA initiator and the DnaN sliding clamp in the yeast two-hybrid and on the overinitiation phenotype observed in a yabA null strain. However, YabA is unrelated to known regulators of initiation and interacts with several additional proteins that could also be involved directly or not in initiation control. Here, we investigated the specific role of YabA interactions with DnaA and DnaN in initiation control by identifying single amino acid changes in YabA that disrupted solely the interaction with DnaA or DnaN. These disruptive mutations delineated specific interacting surfaces involving a Zn 2؉ -cluster structure in YabA. In B. subtilis, these YabA interaction mutations abolished both initiation control and the formation of YabA foci at the replication factory. Upon coexpression of deficient YabA mutants, mixed oligomers formed foci at the replisome and restored initiation control, indicating that YabA acts within a heterocomplex with DnaA and DnaN. In agreement, purified YabA oligomerized and formed complexes with DnaA and DnaN. These findings underscore the functional association of YabA with the replication machinery, indicating that YabA regulates initiation through coupling with the elongation of replication.DnaA ͉ DnaN ͉ Gram-positive bacteria ͉ initiation control

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional dissection of YabA, a negative regulator of DNA replication initiation in Bacillus subtilis

Noirot‐Gros

Velten

Yoshimura

et al. 2006

136

“…The ATP-bound form of DnaA is active in replication initiation and in modulating transcription (53)(54)(55)(56). In E. coli, the amount of ATP-DnaA is regulated during the cell cycle by ongoing replication through an intermediary regulatory protein Hda (57,58). B. subtilis lacks an obvious orthologue of Hda but may still regulate ATP hydrolysis by DnaA (59).…”

Section: Accumulation Of the Atp-bound Form Of Dnaa May Affect Genementioning

confidence: 99%

A transcriptional response to replication status mediated by the conserved bacterial replication protein DnaA

Goranov

Katz

Breier

et al. 2005

257

Organisms respond to perturbations in DNA replication. We characterized the global transcriptional response to inhibition of DNA replication in Bacillus subtilis. We focused on changes that were independent of the known recA-dependent global DNA damage (SOS) response. We found that overlapping sets of genes are affected by perturbations in replication elongation or initiation and that this transcriptional response serves to inhibit cell division and maintain cell viability. Approximately 20 of the operons (>50 genes) affected have potential DnaA-binding sites and are probably regulated directly by DnaA, the highly conserved replication initiation protein and transcription factor. Many of these genes have homologues and recognizable DnaA-binding sites in other bacteria, indicating that a DnaA-mediated response, elicited by changes in DNA replication status, may be conserved.DNA replication ͉ transcription ͉ DNA microarrays ͉ Bacillus subtilis

“…The pT181 initiator is inactivated by covalent modification at the end of one round of replication (13). E. coli DnaA is converted from an active ATP bound form to an inactive ADP form after replication (14)(15)(16). A similar mechanism also operates in Bacillus subtilis (17).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptional inactivation of a regulatory site for replication of Vibrio cholerae chromosome II

Venkova-Canova¹,

Srivastava²,

Chattoraj³

2006

The oriCII region that includes the initiator gene, rctB, can function as a plasmid in E. coli. Here we show that RctB suffices for the oriCII-based plasmid replication, and rctA in cis or trans reduces the plasmid copy number, thereby serving as a negative regulator. The inhibitory activity could be overcome by increasing the concentration of RctB, suggesting that rctA titrates the initiator. Purified RctB bound to a DNA fragment carrying rctA, confirming that the two can interact. Although rctA apparently works as a titrating site, it is nonetheless transcribed. We find that the transcription attenuates the inhibitory activity of the gene, presumably by interfering with RctB binding. RctB, in turn, repressed the rctA promoter and, thereby, could control its own titration by modulating the transcription of rctA. This control circuit appears to be a putative novel mechanism for homeostasis of initiator availability.O ur knowledge of DNA replication control in bacteria comes largely from studying the chromosome and plasmids of Escherichia coli (1, 2). In general, controlling proteins that initiate replication, initiator proteins, seems to be the central mechanism to regulate replication. A variety of mechanisms have been found to control the initiator.Transcriptional autoregulation of the initiator gene is common in plasmids with iterated initiator-binding sites (iterons), where the initiator serves as the repressor of its own synthesis (3). The E. coli initiator, DnaA, also is autoregulated (4). In addition, the dnaA promoter is inactivated by sequestration to the cell membrane for approximately one-third of the cell generation (5). More traditional modes of transcriptional control using repressors and activators also have been found in phage and plasmid RK2 (6, 7).Initiator translation is regulated by antisense RNAs in a variety of plasmids, the classic examples being plasmids R1 and pT181 (8, 9). The antisense RNA either blocks the ribosomebinding site of the initiator gene directly or of a regulatory peptide for the initiator gene (10).Most other mechanisms operate posttranslationally either by titrating or inactivating the initiator protein. In E. coli, there are Ϸ300 DnaA-binding sites scattered all over the chromosome (11,12). Titration of the initiator to these sites is believed to reduce availability of the protein after replication initiation, because new sites are created during replication elongation.Initiator inactivation is the most widely used mechanism to prevent premature replication reinitiation. The pT181 initiator is inactivated by covalent modification at the end of one round of replication (13). E. coli DnaA is converted from an active ATP bound form to an inactive ADP form after replication (14-16). A similar mechanism also operates in Bacillus subtilis (17). The initiators of iteron-carrying plasmids are inactivated by dimerization, the active form being monomers (18). Dimerization not only reduces monomer concentration, the dimers also participate in inactivating origins (19)(20)(21). Euk...