Functional taxonomy of bacterial hyperstructures.
The levels of organization that exist in bacteria extend from macromolecules to populations. Evidence that there is also a level of organization intermediate between the macromolecule and the bacterial cell is accumulating. This is the level of hyperstructures. Here, we review a variety of spatially extended structures, complexes, and assemblies that might be termed hyperstructures. These include ribosomal or "nucleolar" hyperstructures; transertion hyperstructures; putative phosphotransferase system and glycolytic hyperstructures; chemosignaling and flagellar hyperstructures; DNA repair hyperstructures; cytoskeletal hyperstructures based on EF-Tu, FtsZ, and MreB; and cell cycle hyperstructures responsible for DNA replication, sequestration of newly replicated origins, segregation, compaction, and division. We propose principles for classifying these hyperstructures and finally illustrate how thinking in terms of hyperstructures may lead to a different vision of the bacterial cell.
Norris
Vic
V
Department of Science, University of Rouen, 76821 Mont Saint Aignan Cedex, France. vjn@univ-rouen.fr
den Blaauwen
Tanneke
T
Cabin-Flaman
Armelle
A
Doi
Roy H
RH
Harshey
Rasika
R
Janniere
Laurent
L
Jimenez-Sanchez
Alfonso
A
Jin
Ding Jun
DJ
Levin
Petra Anne
PA
Mileykovskaya
Eugenia
E
Minsky
Abraham
A
Saier
Milton
M
Skarstad
Kirsten
K
D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D005407:Flagella / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial