Invisible Binding: DnaA, the Initiator of Chromosome Replication in Bacteria, Associates with the Escherichia Coli Inner Membrane In Vivo

Abstract

DnaA initiates chromosome replication in most known bacteria and its activity is controlled to execute only once every cell division cycle. ATP in the active ATP-DnaA is hydrolyzed after initiation and ADP is replaced back to ATP on the verge of next initiation. Thus DnaA acts as a molecular switch, in which the nucleotide recycling couples key processes in the cell. Two putative recycling mechanisms presume binding of DnaA either to the membrane or to specific chromosomal sites, promoting nucleotide dissociation.