The Bacterial Amyloid-Like Hfq Promotes In Vitro DNA Alignment

Wien, Frank; Martinez, Denis; Le Brun, Etienne; Jones, Nykola C.; Vrønning Hoffmann, Søren; Waeytens, Jehan; Berbon, Melanie; Habenstein, Birgit; Arluison, Véronique

doi:10.3390/microorganisms7120639

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The Bacterial Amyloid-Like Hfq Promotes In Vitro DNA Alignment

^1,*

²,

³,

⁴

Søren Vrønning Hoffmann

⁴

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Synchrotron SOLEIL, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Institute of Chemistry and Biology of Membranes and Nano-objects, CBMN UMR5248 CNRS Université de Bordeaux INP, 33607 Pessac, France

Laboratoire Léon Brillouin LLB, CEA, CNRS UMR12, Université Paris Saclay, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

⁴

ISA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

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Structure et Fonction des Membranes Biologiques, Université libre de Bruxelles, B1050 Bruxelles, Belgique

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Laboratoire de Chimie Physique d’Orsay, CNRS UMR8000, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay 91400 Orsay, France

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Université de Paris, UFR Sciences du vivant, 35 rue Hélène Brion, 75205 Paris cedex, France

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Microorganisms 2019, 7(12), 639; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7120639

Received: 26 October 2019 / Revised: 25 November 2019 / Accepted: 28 November 2019 / Published: 3 December 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Bacterial Chromatin in Environmental Sensing, Adaptation and Evolution)

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Abstract

The Hfq protein is reported to be involved in environmental adaptation and virulence of several bacteria. In Gram-negative bacteria, Hfq mediates the interaction between regulatory noncoding RNAs and their target mRNAs. Besides these RNA-related functions, Hfq is also associated with DNA and is a part of the bacterial chromatin. Its precise role in DNA structuration is, however, unclear and whether Hfq plays a direct role in DNA-related processes such as replication or recombination is controversial. In previous works, we showed that Escherichia coli Hfq, or more precisely its amyloid-like C-terminal region (CTR), induces DNA compaction into a condensed form. In this paper, we evidence a new property for Hfq; precisely we show that its CTR influences double helix structure and base tilting, resulting in a strong local alignment of nucleoprotein Hfq:DNA fibers. The significance of this alignment is discussed in terms of chromatin structuration and possible functional consequences on evolutionary processes and adaptation to environment. View Full-Text

Keywords: Nucleoid-associated protein (NAP); DNA compaction; DNA recombination; amyloid; Sm protein; Synchrotron Radiation Circular and Linear Dichroism (SRCD/SRLD); Couette flow cell; atomic force microscopy (AFM); solid state NMR (ssNMR)

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MDPI and ACS Style

Wien, F.; Martinez, D.; Le Brun, E.; Jones, N.C.; Vrønning Hoffmann, S.; Waeytens, J.; Berbon, M.; Habenstein, B.; Arluison, V. The Bacterial Amyloid-Like Hfq Promotes In Vitro DNA Alignment. Microorganisms 2019, 7, 639. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7120639

AMA Style

Wien F, Martinez D, Le Brun E, Jones NC, Vrønning Hoffmann S, Waeytens J, Berbon M, Habenstein B, Arluison V. The Bacterial Amyloid-Like Hfq Promotes In Vitro DNA Alignment. Microorganisms. 2019; 7(12):639. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7120639

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wien, Frank, Denis Martinez, Etienne Le Brun, Nykola C. Jones, Søren Vrønning Hoffmann, Jehan Waeytens, Melanie Berbon, Birgit Habenstein, and Véronique Arluison. 2019. "The Bacterial Amyloid-Like Hfq Promotes In Vitro DNA Alignment" Microorganisms 7, no. 12: 639. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7120639

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The Bacterial Amyloid-Like Hfq Promotes In Vitro DNA Alignment

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