ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015
Directed and persistent movement arises from mechanochemistry of the ParA/ParB system.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fast assembly and in vivo coalescence of ParBF biocondensates involved in bacterial DNA partition.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- The kinetics and mobility of a ParA ATPase drive carboxysome distribution inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Programming DNA machines to move.Nature reviews. Chemistry · 2026Review
- Versatile NTP recognition and domain fusions expand the functional repertoire of the ParB-CTPase fold beyond chromosome segregation.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
- Mutational analysis of the F plasmid partitioning protein ParA reveals residues required for oligomerization and plasmid maintenance.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Tuning the interaction of a ParA-type ATPase with its partner separates bacterial organelle positioning from partitioning.Research square · 2025Article
- Tuning the interaction of a ParA-type ATPase with its partner separates bacterial organelle positioning from partitioning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Connecting single-molecule and superresolution microscopies to cell biology through theoretical modeling.Biophysical journal · 2025Review
- DNA supercoiling enhances DNA condensation by ParB proteins.Nucleic acids research · 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
- Motility of an autonomous protein-based artificial motor that operates via a burnt-bridge principle.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Connecting the dots: key insights on ParB for chromosome segregation from single-molecule studies.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- DNA Segregation in Enterobacteria.EcoSal Plus · 2023Review
- Cell cycle-dependent organization of a bacterial centromere through multi-layered regulation of the ParABS system.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Kinetic principles of ParA2-ATP cycling guide dynamic subcellular localizations in Vibrio cholerae.Nucleic acids research · 2023Article
- A new role for monomeric ParA/Soj in chromosome dynamics in Bacillus subtilis.MicrobiologyOpen · 2023Article
- High-throughput imaging and quantitative analysis uncovers the nature of plasmid positioning by ParABS.eLife · 2022Article
- Chromosome remodelling by SMC/Condensin inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Distinct architectural requirements for theeLife · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The segregation of DNA before cell division is essential for faithful genetic inheritance. In many bacteria, segregation of low-copy number plasmids involves an active partition system composed of a nonspecific DNA-binding ATPase, ParA, and its stimulator protein ParB. The ParA/ParB system drives directed and persistent movement of DNA cargo both in vivo and in vitro. Filament-based models akin to actin/microtubule-driven motility were proposed for plasmid segregation mediated by ParA. Recent experiments challenge this view and suggest that ParA/ParB system motility is driven by a diffusion ratchet mechanism in which ParB-coated plasmid both creates and follows a ParA gradient on the nucleoid surface. However, the detailed mechanism of ParA/ParB-mediated directed and persistent movement remains unknown. Here, we develop a theoretical model describing ParA/ParB-mediated motility. We show that the ParA/ParB system can work as a Brownian ratchet, which effectively couples the ATPase-dependent cycling of ParA-nucleoid affinity to the motion of the ParB-bound cargo. Paradoxically, this resulting processive motion relies on quenching diffusive plasmid motion through a large number of transient ParA/ParB-mediated tethers to the nucleoid surface. Our work thus sheds light on an emergent phenomenon in which nonmotor proteins work collectively via mechanochemical coupling to propel cargos-an ingenious solution shaped by evolution to cope with the lack of processive motor proteins in bacteria.
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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.