Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Imaging Mismatch Repair and Cellular Responses to DNA Damage in Bacillus subtilis
Published on: February 8, 2010
Visualization of mismatch repair in bacterial cells
B T Smith1, A D Grossman, G C Walker
1Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Abstract:
We determined the localizations of mismatch repair proteins in living Bacillus subtilis cells. MutS-GFP colocalized with the chromosome in all cells and formed foci in a subset of cells. MutL-GFP formed foci in a subset of cells, and its localization was MutS dependent. The introduction of mismatches by growth in 2-aminopurine caused a replication-dependent increase in the number of cells with MutS and MutL foci. Approximately half of the MutS foci colocalized with DNA polymerase foci. We conclude that MutS is associated with the entire chromosome, poised to detect mismatches. After detection, it appears that mismatch repair foci assemble at mismatches as they emerge from the DNA polymerase and are then carried away from the replisome by continuing replication.
Related Concept Videos
Mismatch Repair
Nucleotide Excision Repair
Mismatch Repair
Fixing Double-strand Breaks
Homologous Recombination
Mismatch Repair
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...

