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Chromosome segregation by the Escherichia coli Min system
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The mechanisms underlying chromosome segregation in prokaryotes remain a subject of debate and no unifying view has yet emerged. Given that the initial disentanglement of duplicated chromosomes could be achieved by purely entropic forces, even the requirement of an active prokaryotic segregation machinery has been questioned. Using computer simulations, we show that entropic forces alone are not sufficient to achieve and maintain full separation of chromosomes. This is, however, possible by assuming repeated binding of chromosomes along a gradient of membrane-associated tethering sites toward the poles. We propose that, in Escherichia coli, such a gradient of membrane tethering sites may be provided by the oscillatory Min system, otherwise known for its role in selecting the cell division site. Consistent with this hypothesis, we demonstrate that MinD binds to DNA and tethers it to the membrane in an ATP-dependent manner. Taken together, our combined theoretical and experimental results suggest the existence of a novel mechanism of chromosome segregation based on the Min system, further highlighting the importance of active segregation of chromosomes in prokaryotic cell biology.
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The Min system aids in chromosome partitioning through MinD mediated transient DNA-membrane tethering events.
“and the Min system aids in chromosome partitioning through MinD mediated transient DNA-membrane tethering events,56”
From Bringing the genetically minimal cell to life on a computer in 4D (2026) · cites this paper as [56]
The Results section reports ATP-dependent recruitment of DNA to membrane-like liposomes by MinD, and the Discussion describes an alternating ‘catch-and-release’ mechanism. But the paper proposes that this mechanism aids chromosome segregation in E. coli; it does not establish that the transient tethering events do so in cells. No page numbers were provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Bringing the genetically minimal cell to life on a computer in 4D
Thornburg, Z. R., Maytin, A., Kwon, J., Brier, T. A., Gilbert, B. R., Fu, E., Gao, Y.-L., Quenneville, J., Wu, T., Li, H., et al. (2026) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2026.02.009 · Cited by 44
Metadata
- Authors
- Di Ventura, B., Knecht, B., Andreas, H., Godinez, W. J., Fritsche, M., Rohr, K., Nickel, W., Heermann, D. W., & Sourjik, V.
- Affiliations
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- German Cancer Research Center (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Sourjik, Victor
- Venue
- Molecular Systems Biology
- Published
- 2013-09-10
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 686-686
- ISSN
- 1744-4292 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3792344
- OpenAlex
- W2025055246
- Cited by
- 74
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 6.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Molecular Systems Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- CHS Stiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (TRR 83)
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Heidelberg Graduate School of Mathematical and Computational Methods for the Sciences, University of Heidelberg
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Microtubule and mitosis dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Keywords
- chromosome segregation, Escherichia coli, Min system, mind, entropic force, cell division site selection, DNA binding, ATP-dependent DNA binding
- MeSH terms
- Adenosine Triphosphatases, Adenosine Triphosphate, Cell Division, Cell Membrane, Chromosomes, Bacterial, Computer Simulation, DNA, Bacterial, Escherichia coli, Models, Molecular, Thermodynamics, Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial, Cell Cycle Proteins, Chromosome Segregation, Escherichia coli Proteins
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