Ferrichrome Has Found Its Match: Biomimetic Analogues with Diversified Activity Map Discrete Microbial Targets.

Siderophores provide an established platform for studying molecular recognition principles in biological systems. Herein, the preparation of ferrichrome (FC) biomimetic analogues varying in length and polarity of the amino acid chain separating between the tripodal scaffold and the pendent FeIII chelating hydroxamic acid groups was reported. Spectroscopic and potentiometric titrations determined their iron affinity to be within the range of efficient chelators. Microbial growth promotion and iron uptake studies were conducted on E. coli, P. putida and U. maydis. A wide range of siderophore activity was observed in the current series: from a rare case of a species-specific growth promotor in P. putida to an analogue matching FC in cross-phylum activity and uptake pathway. A fluorescent conjugate of the broad-range analogue visualized siderophore destination in bacteria (periplasmic space) vs. fungi (cytosol) mapping new therapeutic targets. Quantum dots (QDs) decorated with the most potent FC analogue provided a tool for immobilization of FC-recognizing bacteria. Bacterial clusters formed around QDs may provide a platform for their selection and concentration.

Structure of the DNA-SspC complex: implications for DNA packaging, protection, and repair in bacterial spores.

Bacterial spores have long been recognized as the sturdiest known life forms on earth, revealing extraordinary resistance to a broad range of environmental assaults. A family of highly conserved spore-specific DNA-binding proteins, termed alpha/beta-type small, acid-soluble spore proteins (SASP), plays a major role in mediating spore resistance. The mechanism by which these proteins exert their protective activity remains poorly understood, in part due to the lack of structural data on the DNA-SASP complex. By using cryoelectron microscopy, we have determined the structure of the helical complex formed between DNA and SspC, a characteristic member of the alpha/beta-type SASP family. The protein is found to fully coat the DNA, forming distinct protruding domains, and to modify DNA structure such that it adopts a 3.2-nm pitch. The protruding SspC motifs allow for interdigitation of adjacent DNA-SspC filaments into a tightly packed assembly of nucleoprotein helices. By effectively sequestering DNA molecules, this dense assembly of filaments is proposed to enhance and complement DNA protection obtained by DNA saturation with the alpha/beta-type SASP.

Nucleoid restructuring in stationary-state bacteria.

The textbook view of the bacterial cytoplasm as an unstructured environment has been overturned recently by studies that highlighted the extent to which non-random organization and coherent motion of intracellular components are central for bacterial life-sustaining activities. Because such a dynamic order critically depends on continuous consumption of energy, it cannot be perpetuated in starved, and hence energy-depleted, stationary-state bacteria. Here, we show that, at the onset of the stationary state, bacterial chromatin undergoes a massive reorganization into ordered toroidal structures through a process that is dictated by the intrinsic properties of DNA and by the ubiquitous starvation-induced DNA-binding protein Dps. As starvation proceeds, the toroidal morphology acts as a structural template that promotes the formation of DNA-Dps crystalline assemblies through epitaxial growth. Within the resulting condensed assemblies, DNA is effectively protected by means of structural sequestration. We thus conclude that the transition from bacterial active growth to stationary phase entails a co-ordinated process, in which the energy-dependent dynamic order of the chromatin is sequentially substituted with an equilibrium crystalline order.

Ringlike structure of the Deinococcus radiodurans genome: a key to radioresistance?

The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans survives ionizing irradiation and other DNA-damaging assaults at doses that are lethal to all other organisms. How D. radiodurans accurately reconstructs its genome from hundreds of radiation-generated fragments in the absence of an intact template is unknown. Here we show that the D. radiodurans genome assumes an unusual toroidal morphology that may contribute to its radioresistance. We propose that, because of restricted diffusion within the tightly packed and laterally ordered DNA toroids, radiation-generated free DNA ends are held together, which may facilitate template-independent yet error-free joining of DNA breaks.