Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39849085›Full record

ArticleNature microbiology2025

KorB switching from DNA-sliding clamp to repressor mediates long-range gene silencing in a multi-drug resistance plasmid.

Thomas C McLean, Francisco Balaguer-Pérez, Joshua Chandanani, Christopher M Thomas, Clara Aicart-Ramos, Sophia Burick, Paul Dominic B Olinares, Giulia Gobbato, Julia E A Mundy, Brian T Chait and 5 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature microbiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Tangled Tail of Mechanically Interlocked Peptides.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Uncovering ParB-dependent and -independent subclasses of T-dioxygenases from bacteriophage.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Expanding the diversity of bacterial DNA partitioning: A CTP-independent ParABProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Thomas C McLean *Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. thomas.mcLean@jic.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6467-4974
Francisco Balaguer-Pérez *Department of Macromolecular Structures, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.
Joshua Chandanani *Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2671-2412
Christopher M ThomasSchool of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2810-0455
Clara Aicart-RamosDepartment of Macromolecular Structures, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.
Sophia BurickLaboratory of Molecular Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-1160-2414
Paul Dominic B OlinaresLaboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Gaseous Ion Chemistry, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
Giulia GobbatoDepartment of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
Julia E A MundyDepartment of Biochemistry and Metabolism, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
Brian T ChaitLaboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Gaseous Ion Chemistry, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
David M LawsonDepartment of Biochemistry and Metabolism, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7637-4303
Seth A DarstLaboratory of Molecular Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. darst@rockefeller.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8241-3153
Elizabeth A CampbellLaboratory of Molecular Pathogenesis, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. campbee@rockefeller.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1332-128X
Fernando Moreno-HerreroDepartment of Macromolecular Structures, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain. fernando.moreno@cnb.csic.es.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4083-1709
Tung B K LeDepartment of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. tung.le@jic.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4764-8851

Funding

TR&D Project 4. The Imaging Stage: Multiscale Spatiotemporal Modeling of Macromolecular Systems in Cellular NeighborhoodsP41GM109824 · NIGMS · ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY · PI ROUT, MICHAEL P · 2014 to 2023
$18.8M
National Resource for Mass Spectrom of Biological MacromoleculesP41GM103314 · NIGMS · ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY · PI CHAIT, BRIAN T · 2012 to 2017
$9.9M
Structure, function, and regulation of the bacterial transcription cycleR35GM118130 · NIGMS · ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY · PI DARST, SETH A. · 2016 to 2025
$8.9M
Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine NANIGMS NIH HHS P41 GM103314NIGMS NIH HHS P41 GM109824NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM118130RCUK | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) BB/X01097X/1Royal Society URF\R\201020Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust (Wellcome) 221776/Z/2/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Examples of long-range gene regulation in bacteria are rare and generally thought to involve DNA looping. Here, using a combination of biophysical approaches including X-ray crystallography and single-molecule analysis for the KorB-KorA system in Escherichia coli, we show that long-range gene silencing on the plasmid RK2, a source of multi-drug resistance across diverse Gram-negative bacteria, is achieved cooperatively by a DNA-sliding clamp, KorB, and a clamp-locking protein, KorA. We show that KorB is a CTPase clamp that can entrap and slide along DNA to reach distal target promoters up to 1.5 kb away. We resolved the tripartite crystal structure of a KorB-KorA-DNA co-complex, revealing that KorA latches KorB into a closed clamp state. DNA-bound KorA thus stimulates repression by stalling KorB sliding at target promoters to occlude RNA polymerase holoenzymes. Together, our findings explain the mechanistic basis for KorB role switching from a DNA-sliding clamp to a co-repressor and provide an alternative mechanism for long-range regulation of gene expression in bacteria.

Indexed as

Drug Resistance, Multiple, BacterialEscherichia coliEscherichia coli ProteinsGene SilencingPlasmidsRepressor ProteinsCrystallography, X-RayDNA, BacterialGene Expression Regulation, BacterialModels, MolecularPromoter Regions, GeneticDNA, BacterialEscherichia coli ProteinsRepressor Proteins

Identifiers

PMID39849085
PMCPMC11790492

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.