Structural and Functional Features of Bacterial SMC Complexes

Abstract

SMC complexes (Structural maintenance of chromosomes) are key participants in the spatial organization of DNA in all living organisms – in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. In bacteria, there are several homologues of SMC complexes that perform seemingly unrelated functions, but function through very similar, highly conserved mechanisms. In recent years, it has been established that SMC complexes are capable of forming loops from DNA (through the so-called loop extrusion), which allows them to be considered as a separate class of DNA translocases. This paper discusses bacterial SMC complexes in comparison with their homologues such as MukBEF, MksBEF, RecN, and Wadjet, as well as with eukaryotic SMC complexes. Their properties, role and functions in the key processes of the bacterial cell are discussed.