The architectural role of nucleoid-associated proteins in the organization of bacterial chromatin: a molecular perspective.
The bacterial genome is folded into a compact structure called the nucleoid. Considerable compaction of the DNA molecule is required in order to reduce its volume below that of the cell. Several mechanisms, such as molecular crowding and DNA supercoiling contribute to the compactness of the nucleoid. Besides these mechanisms, a number of architectural proteins associate with the chromosomal DNA and cause it to fold into a compact structure by bridging, bending or wrapping DNA. In this review, we provide an overview of the major nucleoid-associated proteins from a structural perspective and we discuss their possible roles in dynamically shaping the bacterial nucleoid.
Luijsterburg
Martijn S
MS
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Noom
Maarten C
MC
Wuite
Gijs J L
GJ
Dame
Remus Th
RT
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002843:Chromatin / Q000502:physiology*; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D042003:DNA Packaging / Q000502:physiology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002843:Chromatin; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins