Kohiyama, M.; Herrick, J.; Norris, V. Open Questions about the Roles of DnaA, Related Proteins, and Hyperstructure Dynamics in the Cell Cycle. Life2023, 13, 1890.
Kohiyama, M.; Herrick, J.; Norris, V. Open Questions about the Roles of DnaA, Related Proteins, and Hyperstructure Dynamics in the Cell Cycle. Life 2023, 13, 1890.
Kohiyama, M.; Herrick, J.; Norris, V. Open Questions about the Roles of DnaA, Related Proteins, and Hyperstructure Dynamics in the Cell Cycle. Life2023, 13, 1890.
Kohiyama, M.; Herrick, J.; Norris, V. Open Questions about the Roles of DnaA, Related Proteins, and Hyperstructure Dynamics in the Cell Cycle. Life 2023, 13, 1890.
Abstract
The DnaA protein has long been considered to play the key role in the initiation of chromosome replication in modern bacteria. Many questions about this role, however, remain unanswered. Here, we raise these questions within a framework based on the dynamics of hyperstructures alias large assemblies of molecules and macromolecules that perform a function. In this dynamics, hyperstructures can (1) emit and receive signals or (2) fuse and separate from one another. We ask whether the DnaA-based initiation hyperstructure acts as a logic gate receiving information from the membrane, the chromosome and metabolism to trigger replication; we try to phrase some of these questions in terms of DNA supercoiling, strand opening, glycolytic enzymes, SeqA, ribonucleotide reductase, the Macromolecular Synthesis operon, post-translational modifications and metabolic pools. Finally, we ask whether, underpinning the regulation of the cell cycle, there is a physico-chemical clock inherited from the first protocells, and whether this clock emits a single signal that triggers both chromosome replication and cell division.
Keywords
Charles E. Helmstetter Prize; E. coli; ribonucleotide reductase; sequestration; oriC; macromolecular crowding; differentiation; macromolecular synthesis operon; integrative suppression; L-form
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
