On the Role of H-NS in the Organization of Bacterial Chromatin: From Bulk to Single Molecules and Back…

Abstract

The chromosomal DNA in the bacterium Escherichia coli is thought to be organized and compacted at least in part as a consequence of the interaction with so-called histone-like or nucleoid-associated proteins. The groups of Stavans and Oppenheim have recently embarked on an ambitious project which aims to quantify the compactive effects of the various members of this group of proteins using magnetic tweezers (Ali et al., 2001). Eventually this could lead to a better understanding of how these proteins work together in the formation of a compact nucleoid.