Morphological Diversity of Dps Complex with Genomic DNA
In response to adverse environmental factors, <i>Escherichia coli</i> cells actively produce Dps proteins which form ordered complexes (biocrystals) with bacterial DNA to protect the genome. The effect of biocrystallization has been described extensively in the scientific literature; fur...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/10/8534 |
| Summary: | In response to adverse environmental factors, <i>Escherichia coli</i> cells actively produce Dps proteins which form ordered complexes (biocrystals) with bacterial DNA to protect the genome. The effect of biocrystallization has been described extensively in the scientific literature; furthermore, to date, the structure of the Dps–DNA complex has been established in detail in vitro using plasmid DNA. In the present work, for the first time, Dps complexes with <i>E. coli</i> genomic DNA were studied in vitro using cryo-electron tomography. We demonstrate that genomic DNA forms one-dimensional crystals or filament-like assemblies which transform into weakly ordered complexes with triclinic unit cells, similar to what is observed for plasmid DNA. Changing such environmental factors as pH and KCl and MgCl<sub>2</sub> concentrations leads to the formation of cylindrical structures. |
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| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |