ArticlePLoS genetics2013
DNA binding of the cell cycle transcriptional regulator GcrA depends on N6-adenosine methylation in Caulobacter crescentus and other Alphaproteobacteria.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers.
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 101 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genome replication and cell division control by the methylation-sensitive GcrA regulator in Agrobacterium tumefaciens.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- The Complex Epigenetic Panorama in the Multipartite Genome of the Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Characteristics of the smallest brucellaphage with strong lytic ability.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- A novel mode of histone-like protein HupB regulatingCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2025Review
- DNA methylation by CcrM contributes to genome maintenance in the Agrobacterium tumefaciens plant pathogen.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Phenotypic heterogeneity in bacteria: the rise of antibiotic persistence, clinical implications, and therapeutic opportunities.Archives of microbiology · 2024Review
- The HmrABCX pathway regulates the transition between motile and sessile lifestyles inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- AamA-mediated epigenetic control of genome-wide gene expression and phenotypic traits inMicrobial genomics · 2023Article
- The structural mechanism for transcription activation by Caulobacter crescentus GcrA.Nucleic acids research · 2023Article
- Bacterial DNA methyltransferase: A key to the epigenetic world with lessons learned from proteobacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- Crossing Bacterial Genomic Features and Methylation Patterns with MeStudio: An Epigenomic Analysis Tool.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Shared properties of gene transfer agent and core genes revealed by comparative genomics of Alphaproteobacteria.Microbial genomics · 2022Article
- DNA Methylation inmSystems · 2022Article
- The noncoding RNA CcnA modulates the master cell cycle regulators CtrA and GcrA in Caulobacter crescentus.PLoS biology · 2022Article
- DNA Methylation in Prokaryotes.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2022Article
- Advanced biotechnology using methyltransferase and its applications in bacteria: a mini review.Biotechnology letters · 2022Review
- OrpR is a σMolecular microbiology · 2021Article
- Transcriptional rewiring of the GcrA/CcrM bacterial epigenetic regulatory system in closely related bacteria.PLoS genetics · 2021Article
- The DUF1013 protein TrcR tracks with RNA polymerase to control the bacterial cell cycle and protect against antibiotics.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Mechanotransduction in Prokaryotes: A Possible Mechanism of Spaceflight Adaptation.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Several regulators are involved in the control of cell cycle progression in the bacterial model system Caulobacter crescentus, which divides asymmetrically into a vegetative G1-phase (swarmer) cell and a replicative S-phase (stalked) cell. Here we report a novel functional interaction between the enigmatic cell cycle regulator GcrA and the N6-adenosine methyltransferase CcrM, both highly conserved proteins among Alphaproteobacteria, that are activated early and at the end of S-phase, respectively. As no direct biochemical and regulatory relationship between GcrA and CcrM were known, we used a combination of ChIP (chromatin-immunoprecipitation), biochemical and biophysical experimentation, and genetics to show that GcrA is a dimeric DNA-binding protein that preferentially targets promoters harbouring CcrM methylation sites. After tracing CcrM-dependent N6-methyl-adenosine promoter marks at a genome-wide scale, we show that these marks recruit GcrA in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we found that, in the presence of a methylated target, GcrA recruits the RNA polymerase to the promoter, consistent with its role in transcriptional activation. Since methylation-dependent DNA binding is also observed with GcrA orthologs from other Alphaproteobacteria, we conclude that GcrA is the founding member of a new and conserved class of transcriptional regulators that function as molecular effectors of a methylation-dependent (non-heritable) epigenetic switch that regulates gene expression during the cell cycle.
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