title: HU: promoting or counteracting DNA compaction?
abstract: The role of HU in Escherichia coli as both a protein involved in DNA compaction and as a protein with regulatory function seems to be firmly established. However, a critical look at the available data reveals that this is not true for each of the proposed roles of this protein. The role of HU as a regulatory or accessory protein in a number of systems has been thoroughly investigated and in many cases has been largely elucidated. However, almost 30 years after its discovery, convincing evidence for the proposed role of HU in DNA compaction is still lacking. Here we present an extensive literature survey of the available data which, in combination with novel microscopic insights, suggests that the role of HU could be the opposite as well. The protein is likely to play an architectural role, but instead of being responsible for DNA compaction it could be involved in antagonising compaction by other proteins such as H-NS.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9502, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Remus Thei
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Dame
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goosen
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C040330:histone-like protein HU, bacteria