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Updated: Feb 27, 2026

Synchronization of Caulobacter Crescentus for Investigation of the Bacterial Cell Cycle
Published on: April 8, 2015
Caulobacter crescentus Cell Cycle-Regulated DNA Methyltransferase Uses a Novel Mechanism for Substrate Recognition
Clayton B Woodcock1, Aziz B Yakubov1, Norbert O Reich1
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California , Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
Abstract:
Caulobacter crescentus relies on DNA methylation by the cell cycle-regulated methyltransferase (CcrM) in addition to key transcription factors to control the cell cycle and direct cellular differentiation. CcrM is shown here to efficiently methylate its cognate recognition site 5'-GANTC-3' in single-stranded and hemimethylated double-stranded DNA. We report the Km, kcat, kmethylation, and Kd for single-stranded and hemimethylated substrates, revealing discrimination of 107-fold for noncognate sequences. The enzyme also shows a similar discrimination against single-stranded RNA. Two independent assays clearly show that CcrM is highly processive with single-stranded and hemimethylated DNA. Collectively, the data provide evidence that CcrM and other DNA-modifying enzymes may use a new mechanism to recognize DNA in a key epigenetic process.
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