ArticlePLoS computational biology2014
Competing ParA structures space bacterial plasmids equally over the nucleoid.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- The kinetics and mobility of a ParA ATPase drive carboxysome distribution inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- 3D pattern formation of a protein-membrane suspension.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Brownian ratchet mechanisms for carboxysome positioning in bacteria.Current opinion in microbiology · 2025Review
- Coordinating plasmid partition with bacterial chromosome segregation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Plasmid partitioning driven by collective migration of ParA between nucleoid lobes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Updates on the Virulence Factors Produced by Multidrug-ResistantMicroorganisms · 2023Review
- Engineering Tissue-Scale Properties with Synthetic Cells: Forging One from Many.ACS synthetic biology · 2023Review
- Polyploidy, regular patterning of genome copies, and unusual control of DNA partitioning in the Lyme disease spirochete.Nature communications · 2022Article
- High-throughput imaging and quantitative analysis uncovers the nature of plasmid positioning by ParABS.eLife · 2022Article
- Chemophoresis engine: A general mechanism of ATPase-driven cargo transport.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Spatial control over near-critical-point operation ensures fidelity of ParABS-mediated DNA partition.Biophysical journal · 2021Article
- Towards a synthetic cell cycle.Nature communications · 2021Review
- Identification of a Potential Membrane-Targeting Sequence in the C-Terminus of the F Plasmid Segregation Protein SopA.The Journal of membrane biology · 2021Article
- Supercoiled DNA and non-equilibrium formation of protein complexes: A quantitative model of the nucleoprotein ParBS partition complex.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
- Tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent localization of TmaR that controls activity of a major bacterial sugar regulator by polar sequestration.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- The E. coli MinCDE system in the regulation of protein patterns and gradients.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2019Review
- Article
- Can a Flux-Based Mechanism Explain Protein Cluster Positioning in a Three-Dimensional Cell Geometry?Biophysical journal · 2019Article
- DNA segregation under Par protein control.PloS one · 2019Article
- Crosstalk Regulation Between Bacterial Chromosome Replication and Chromosome Partitioning.Frontiers in microbiology · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Low copy number plasmids in bacteria require segregation for stable inheritance through cell division. This is often achieved by a parABC locus, comprising an ATPase ParA, DNA-binding protein ParB and a parC region, encoding ParB-binding sites. These minimal components space plasmids equally over the nucleoid, yet the underlying mechanism is not understood. Here we investigate a model where ParA-ATP can dynamically associate to the nucleoid and is hydrolyzed by plasmid-associated ParB, thereby creating nucleoid-bound, self-organizing ParA concentration gradients. We show mathematically that differences between competing ParA concentrations on either side of a plasmid can specify regular plasmid positioning. Such positioning can be achieved regardless of the exact mechanism of plasmid movement, including plasmid diffusion with ParA-mediated immobilization or directed plasmid motion induced by ParB/parC-stimulated ParA structure disassembly. However, we find experimentally that parABC from Escherichia coli plasmid pB171 increases plasmid mobility, inconsistent with diffusion/immobilization. Instead our observations favor directed plasmid motion. Our model predicts less oscillatory ParA dynamics than previously believed, a prediction we verify experimentally. We also show that ParA localization and plasmid positioning depend on the underlying nucleoid morphology, indicating that the chromosomal architecture constrains ParA structure formation. Our directed motion model unifies previously contradictory models for plasmid segregation and provides a robust mechanistic basis for self-organized plasmid spacing that may be widely applicable.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.