A cluster of genes that affects nucleoid segregation in Salmonella typhimurium

Thirteen conditional lethal mutations in genes of Salmonella typhimurium map at the clmF locus and affect both viability and the faithful partitioning of daughter nucleoids. These mutations have now been divided into three complementation groups by using cloned fragments of S. typhimurium DNA and renamed parC, parE, and parF. The proteins produced from the cloned fragments predict that ParC is an 85-kD protein, ParE is 75 kD in size, and ParF, 27 kD. The parE gene is about 5 kb upstream of the parC gene, and parC is just upstream of parF. Genes situated between parC and parE produce at least two proteins of unknown function. The DNA sequence of the S. typhimurium parC gene was determined and has 56% homology with the first 1400 base pairs of the Escherichia coli gryA gene, which encodes the A subunit of DNA gyrase, and 85% homology with the E. coli parC gene. Despite the strong homology between gryA and parC, these two genes cannot substitute for one another. The DNA sequence of the S. typhimurium parF gene was determined and predicts a protein with a hydrophobic N terminus. The ParF protein may interact with ParC and ParE to anchor these proteins to the membrane. These results raise questions about the relative roles of gyrase and ParCEF in nucleoid decatenation. In addition, the parC and gyrA genes provide an example of the evolution of essential functions by gene duplication.