Identification of a Caulobacter crescentus operon encoding hrcA, involved in negatively regulating heat-inducible transcription, and the chaperone gene grpE

194

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The actin cytoskeleton represents a key regulator of multiple essential cellular functions in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In eukaryotes, these functions depend on the orchestrated dynamics of actin filament assembly and disassembly. However, the dynamics of the bacterial actin homolog MreB have yet to be examined in vivo. In this study, we observed the motion of single fluorescent MreB-yellow fluorescent protein fusions in living Caulobacter cells in a background of unlabeled MreB. With time-lapse imaging, polymerized MreB [filamentous MreB (fMreB)] and unpolymerized MreB [globular MreB (gMreB)] monomers could be distinguished: gMreB showed fast motion that was characteristic of Brownian diffusion, whereas the labeled molecules in fMreB displayed slow, directed motion. This directional movement of labeled MreB in the growing polymer provides an indication that, like actin, MreB monomers treadmill through MreB filaments by preferential polymerization at one filament end and depolymerization at the other filament end. From these data, we extract several characteristics of single MreB filaments, including that they are, on average, much shorter than the cell length and that the direction of their polarized assembly seems to be independent of the overall cellular polarity. Thus, MreB, like actin, exhibits treadmilling behavior in vivo, and the long MreB structures that have been visualized in multiple bacterial species seem to represent bundles of short filaments that lack a uniform global polarity.bacteria ͉ cytoskeleton ͉ single-molecule fluorescence I n both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells, actin mediates essential cellular processes. A quantitative understanding of the kinetic dynamics and ultrastructural architecture of actin's polymerized filaments has helped elucidate the mechanisms by which eukaryotic actin functions. For example, high-resolution imaging and the in vivo and in vitro dissection of the kinetics of its assembly have demonstrated how actin polymerization at the tips of a rigid, crosslinked actin meshwork can drive cell motility at the leading edge of Dictyostelium (1, 2). In budding yeast, the polarized assembly of actin cables provides both a road and direction signs for the directed transport of proteins to the tip of growing buds (3).There are two known bacterial actin homologs, the widely conserved, chromosomally encoded MreB family of proteins and the plasmid-specific ParM family of proteins. ParM functions to partition plasmid DNA by polymerizing in between two sister plasmids, thereby generating a tension rod that physically pushes them apart (4). MreB is essential in most bacteria and has been shown to form a lengthwise spiral that contributes to cell shape, chromosome segregation, and polar protein localization in multiple species, including Caulobacter crescentus, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis (5-10). The mechanism by which MreB executes its functions remains largely unknown (11).In vitro studies of the dynamics of eukaryotic actin filament assembly have demonstrated th...

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single molecules of the bacterial actin MreB undergo directed treadmilling motion in Caulobacter crescentus

Kim

Gitai

Kinkhabwala

et al. 2006

194

241

“…To confirm that the receiver domain and C terminus of CtrA have the same intracellular dynamics as the full-length protein, we expressed a YFP-CtrA fusion protein by using the inducible Pxyl promoter (24) on a low-copy number plasmid (22) in wild-type Caulobacter. We observed mixed populations of cells at a single time point by using DIC and fluorescence microscopy to determine the percentage of swarmer, stalked, and predivisional cells containing a polar YFP signal.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recruitment of a cytoplasmic response regulator to the cell pole is linked to its cell cycle-regulated proteolysis

Ryan

Huntwork

Shapiro

2004

The response regulator CtrA, which silences the Caulobacter origin of replication and controls multiple cell cycle events, is specifically proteolyzed in cells preparing to initiate DNA replication. At the swarmer-to-stalked cell transition and in the stalked compartment of the predivisional cell, CtrA is localized to the cell pole just before its degradation. Analysis of the requirements for CtrA polar localization and CtrA proteolysis revealed that both processes require a motif within amino acids 1-56 of the CtrA receiver domain, and neither process requires CtrA phosphorylation. These results strongly suggest that CtrA polar localization is coupled to its cell cycle-regulated proteolysis. The polarly localized DivK response regulator promotes CtrA localization and proteolysis, but it does not directly recruit CtrA to the cell pole. Mutations in the divJ and pleC histidine kinases perturb the characteristic asymmetry of CtrA localization and proteolysis in the predivisional cell. We propose that polar recruitment of CtrA evolved to ensure that CtrA is degraded only in the stalked half of the predivisional cell, perhaps by localizing a proteolytic adaptor protein to the stalked pole. This is an example of controlled proteolysis of a cytoplasmic protein that is associated with its active recruitment to a specific subcellular address.Caulobacter ͉ CtrA ͉ ClpXP I n Caulobacter crescentus, DNA replication occurs once per cell division, and the phases of the cell cycle are linked to observable morphological changes (reviewed in refs. 1 and 2). Motile swarmer cells (Fig. 1) in the G 1 phase of the cell cycle develop into stalked cells ( Fig. 1) and initiate chromosome replication. During the swarmer-to-stalked cell (SW-ST) (or G 1 -S) transition, each cell sheds its polar flagellum and builds a stalk at the same site. As DNA replication proceeds, stalked cells elongate and become predivisional cells with distinct poles. A new flagellum is built at the pole opposite the stalk, so that each cell division produces a motile swarmer cell and a stalked cell. Before cell separation, a diffusion barrier is established between the swarmer and stalked compartments of the predivisional cell so that they contain distinct sets of signal transduction proteins that yield progeny with different replicative fates (3): the stalked progeny can initiate DNA replication immediately, whereas the swarmer cell must first differentiate into a new stalked cell.A key signal transduction protein that regulates Caulobacter cell cycle progression is the essential response regulator CtrA (4). CtrA directly induces or represses the transcription of Ϸ55 operons in the Caulobacter genome, including genes needed for flagellum and pili biosynthesis, DNA methylation, cell division, chemotaxis, and metabolism (5, 6). However, CtrA also represses chromosome replication by binding to five sites within the replication origin (7). Because CtrA has multiple functions, its activity is tightly controlled by three mechanisms: cell cycleregulated transcription (...

“…Strains containing a deleted chromosomal copy of mreB were identified by PCR. A Pxyl::mreB construct was generated by inserting the 2-kb region upstream of the xylose locus in front of the full-length mreB gene in the pMR10 low-copy plasmid (22), with an NdeI site engineered at the ATG (LS3808). This Pxyl::mreB plasmid was introduced into the ⌬mreB strains harboring the mreB cosmid.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An actin-like gene can determine cell polarity in bacteria

Gitai

Dye

Shapiro

2004

295

357

Achieving proper polarity is essential for cellular function. In bacteria, cell polarity has been observed by using both morphological and molecular markers; however, no general regulators of bacterial cell polarity have been identified. Here we investigate the effect on cell polarity of two cytoskeletal elements previously implicated in cell shape determination. We find that the actin-like MreB protein mediates global cell polarity in Caulobacter crescentus, although the intermediate filament-like CreS protein influences cell shape without affecting cell polarity. MreB is organized in an axial spiral that is dynamically rearranged during the cell cycle, and MreB dynamics may be critical for the determination of cell polarity. By examining depletion and overexpression strains, we demonstrate that MreB is required both for the polar localization of the chromosomal origin sequence and the dynamic localization of regulatory proteins to the correct cell pole. We propose that the molecular polarity inherent in an actin-like filament is translated into a mechanism for directing global cell polarity.T he bacterium Caulobacter crescentus is particularly well suited to studies of cell polarity because of its inherently asymmetric life cycle that yields, at each cell division, progeny that have different polar morphologies and cell fates (Fig. 1C). The larger ''stalked'' cell progeny has a cytoplasmic extension known as a stalk at one pole, and the smaller ''swarmer'' cell progeny has a flagellum and pili at one pole. Immediately after cell division, the stalked cell initiates DNA replication, grows, and synthesizes a flagellum and a pilus secretion apparatus at the pole opposite the stalk before dividing asymmetrically (1). After emerging from a brief G1 arrest, the swarmer cell sheds its flagellum and pili, develops a stalk at that same pole, and initiates DNA replication. This new stalked cell then proceeds through the same asymmetric life cycle as other stalked cells. The stalk is clearly identifiable by light microscopy, making it easy to monitor Caulobacter polarity throughout the cell cycle. In addition, several structural and regulatory proteins as well as the origin of replication have been shown to dynamically localize to the stalked pole, the swarmer pole, or both poles during the cell cycle (2). These proteins and chromosomal regions serve as molecular markers of cell polarity. Subcellularly localized molecules are not unique to Caulobacter. For example, chemoreceptors, histidine kinases, response regulators, and several chromosomal loci have specific addresses in a wide variety of bacteria, including those without obvious morphological asymmetry (3-7). In addition, virtually every eukaryotic cell has subcellularly localized proteins, such as secretory molecules localized to the bud tip in yeast and neurotransmitter receptors localized to neuronal synapses (8, 9).The mechanism by which Caulobacter cells achieve such exquisite polarity is unknown, and no global regulators of cell polarity have been identified i...