Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Selection for chromosome architecture in bacteria.

Heather Hendrickson1, Jeffrey G Lawrence

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.

Journal of Molecular Evolution
|April 14, 2006
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Molecular Architecture of Early Dissemination and Massive Second Wave of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus in a Major Metropolitan Area.

mBio·2020
Same author

Molecular Architecture of Early Dissemination and Massive Second Wave of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus in a Major Metropolitan Area.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2020
Same author

Selection for ancient periodic motifs that do not impart DNA bending.

PLoS genetics·2020
Same author

Genome Sequence of a Jumbo Bacteriophage That Infects the Kiwifruit Phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae.

Microbiology resource announcements·2019
Same author

HPV status in women with high-grade dysplasia on cervical biopsy and preceding negative HPV tests.

Journal of the American Society of Cytopathology·2019
Same author

Chromosome architecture constrains horizontal gene transfer in bacteria.

PLoS genetics·2018
Same journal

Deep Dive into Evolution: How Cetaceans Adapt Their Anticoagulant Genes for Underwater Survival.

Journal of molecular evolution·2026
Same journal

Sensing Underwater: Diversifying Selection, Convergent Evolution and Inactivation in Sensory Receptors' Genes of Aquatic Mammals.

Journal of molecular evolution·2026
Same journal

Synonymous Codons as Potential Contributors to Chromatin Stability and Gene Body Methylation in Plants.

Journal of molecular evolution·2026
Same journal

Convergent Functional Genomic Evolution Underlying Repeated Freshwater Colonization in Cetaceans.

Journal of molecular evolution·2026
Same journal

Conditions Enabling the Persistence of Cooperating Synthetase, Ligase, and Mutation-Inhibitor Catalytic Polymers.

Journal of molecular evolution·2026
Same journal

Lineage-Specific Diversification of Nucleoporin Nup98 Genes in Ciliates and Its Evolutionary Implications for the Nuclear Dualism.

Journal of molecular evolution·2026
See all related articles

Bacteria use specific DNA sequences, called architecture-imparting sequences (AIMS), to organize their chromosomes for replication and cell division. These sequences are selected for over long periods, ensuring genome stability and proper segregation.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Genomics
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Bacterial chromosome replication and segregation are vital for cell survival.
  • Proteins like FtsK require organized bacterial genomes to function during cell division.
  • The replication terminus needs specific DNA architectures for orderly chromosome segregation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and characterize architecture-imparting sequences (AIMS) in bacterial genomes.
  • To understand the role of AIMS in bacterial chromosome organization and segregation.
  • To investigate the evolutionary selection pressures acting on AIMS.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a generalized method for detecting AIMS.
  • Bioinformatic analysis of AIMS distribution across nearly all bacterial genomes.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Comparative genomic analysis to assess the conservation of AIMS patterns.

    • Main Results:

    • AIMS were identified in almost all bacterial genomes analyzed.
    • AIMS show increased abundance on leading strands and decreased abundance on lagging strands, particularly near replication termini.
    • This pattern is attributed to long-term positive selection, not mutational bias.
    • AIMS patterns are conserved across related bacteria and independent of gene location.

    Conclusions:

    • AIMS play a conserved role in bacterial genome biology, contributing to chromosome architecture.
    • The stable gradient of AIMS from origin to terminus suggests selection acts on the entire replicore.
    • Selection for AIMS maintains gene order and prevents high-frequency DNA inversions within bacterial replicons.