title: Bacterial chromosome organization and segregation.
abstract: Bacterial chromosomes are generally approximately 1000 times longer than the cells in which they reside, and concurrent replication, segregation, and transcription/translation of this crowded mass of DNA poses a challenging organizational problem. Recent advances in cell-imaging technology with subdiffraction resolution have revealed that the bacterial nucleoid is reliably oriented and highly organized within the cell. Such organization is transmitted from one generation to the next by progressive segregation of daughter chromosomes and anchoring of DNA to the cell envelope. Active segregation by a mitotic machinery appears to be common; however, the mode of chromosome segregation varies significantly from species to species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Biology, Beckman Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA. etoro@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Esteban
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Toro
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000378:metabolism; D016934:Caulobacter / Q000378:metabolism; D002453:Cell Cycle; D020090:Chromosome Segregation; D022004:Chromosome Structures; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D008938:Mitosis; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity; D014734:Vibrio cholerae / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial