title: Spatially ordered dynamics of the bacterial carbon fixation machinery.
abstract: Cyanobacterial carbon fixation is a major component of the global carbon cycle. This process requires the carboxysome, an organelle-like proteinaceous microcompartment that sequesters the enzymes of carbon fixation from the cytoplasm. Here, fluorescently tagged carboxysomes were found to be spatially ordered in a linear fashion. As a consequence, cells undergoing division evenly segregated carboxysomes in a nonrandom process. Mutation of the cytoskeletal protein ParA specifically disrupted carboxysome order, promoted random carboxysome segregation during cell division, and impaired carbon fixation after disparate partitioning. Thus, cyanobacteria use the cytoskeleton to control the spatial arrangement of carboxysomes and to optimize the metabolic process of carbon fixation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Afonso
authors.forename: Anna H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Pamela A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Silver
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D002455:Cell Division; D022083:Cytoplasmic Structures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology; D004058:Diffusion; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D046940:Synechococcus / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C052883:chromosome partition proteins, bacterial; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase