Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1997 Dec;179(24):7625–7630. doi: 10.1128/jb.179.24.7625-7630.1997

Nucleoid structure and distribution in thermophilic Archaea.

A Popławski 1, R Bernander 1
PMCID: PMC179722  PMID: 9401018

Abstract

Nucleoid structure and distribution in thermophilic organisms from the Archaea domain were studied. Combined phase-contrast and fluorescence microscopy of DAPI (4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole)-stained Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and Sulfolobus solfataricus cells revealed that the nucleoids were highly structured. Different nucleoid distribution within the cells, representing different partition stages, was observed. The conformation of the nucleoids differed between exponentially growing and stationary-phase cells. Also, the stationary-phase cells contained two chromosomes, and the nucleoids occupied a larger part of the interior of the cells than in the exponentially growing cells. The part of the cell cycle during which fully separated nucleoids could be detected was short. Since the postreplication period is long in these organisms, there was a considerable time interval between termination of chromosome replication and completion of nucleoid separation, similar to the G2 phase in eukaryotic cells. The length of the visible cell constriction period was found to be in the same range as that of eubacteria. Finally, cell-cell connections were observed under certain conditions. Possible eubacterial, eukaryotic, and unique features of nucleoid processing and cell division in thermophilic archaea are discussed.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (2.5 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Akerlund T., Bernander R., Nordström K. Cell division in Escherichia coli minB mutants. Mol Microbiol. 1992 Aug;6(15):2073–2083. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb01380.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Akerlund T., Nordström K., Bernander R. Analysis of cell size and DNA content in exponentially growing and stationary-phase batch cultures of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1995 Dec;177(23):6791–6797. doi: 10.1128/jb.177.23.6791-6797.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bernander R., Poplawski A. Cell cycle characteristics of thermophilic archaea. J Bacteriol. 1997 Aug;179(16):4963–4969. doi: 10.1128/jb.179.16.4963-4969.1997. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bernander R. Universal cell cycle regulation? Trends Cell Biol. 1994 Mar;4(3):76–79. doi: 10.1016/0962-8924(94)90173-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bohrmann B., Villiger W., Johansen R., Kellenberger E. Coralline shape of the bacterial nucleoid after cryofixation. J Bacteriol. 1991 May;173(10):3149–3158. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.10.3149-3158.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Brock T. D., Brock K. M., Belly R. T., Weiss R. L. Sulfolobus: a new genus of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria living at low pH and high temperature. Arch Mikrobiol. 1972;84(1):54–68. doi: 10.1007/BF00408082. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bult C. J., White O., Olsen G. J., Zhou L., Fleischmann R. D., Sutton G. G., Blake J. A., FitzGerald L. M., Clayton R. A., Gocayne J. D. Complete genome sequence of the methanogenic archaeon, Methanococcus jannaschii. Science. 1996 Aug 23;273(5278):1058–1073. doi: 10.1126/science.273.5278.1058. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Burggraf S., Heyder P., Eis N. A pivotal Archaea group. Nature. 1997 Feb 27;385(6619):780–780. doi: 10.1038/385780a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Forterre P., Charbonnier F., Marguet E., Harper F., Henckes G. Chromosome structure and DNA topology in extremely thermophilic archaebacteria. Biochem Soc Symp. 1992;58:99–112. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Grogan D. W. Exchange of genetic markers at extremely high temperatures in the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. J Bacteriol. 1996 Jun;178(11):3207–3211. doi: 10.1128/jb.178.11.3207-3211.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Grogan D. W. Phenotypic characterization of the archaebacterial genus Sulfolobus: comparison of five wild-type strains. J Bacteriol. 1989 Dec;171(12):6710–6719. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.12.6710-6719.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Koppes L. H., Woldringh C. L., Nanninga N. Size variations and correlation of different cell cycle events in slow-growing Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1978 May;134(2):423–433. doi: 10.1128/jb.134.2.423-433.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mojica F. J., Ferrer C., Juez G., Rodríguez-Valera F. Long stretches of short tandem repeats are present in the largest replicons of the Archaea Haloferax mediterranei and Haloferax volcanii and could be involved in replicon partitioning. Mol Microbiol. 1995 Jul;17(1):85–93. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1995.mmi_17010085.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Preston C. M., Wu K. Y., Molinski T. F., DeLong E. F. A psychrophilic crenarchaeon inhabits a marine sponge: Cenarchaeum symbiosum gen. nov., sp. nov. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Jun 25;93(13):6241–6246. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.13.6241. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rosenshine I., Tchelet R., Mevarech M. The mechanism of DNA transfer in the mating system of an archaebacterium. Science. 1989 Sep 22;245(4924):1387–1389. doi: 10.1126/science.2818746. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Schleper C., Holz I., Janekovic D., Murphy J., Zillig W. A multicopy plasmid of the extremely thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus effects its transfer to recipients by mating. J Bacteriol. 1995 Aug;177(15):4417–4426. doi: 10.1128/jb.177.15.4417-4426.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Takayanagi S., Morimura S., Kusaoke H., Yokoyama Y., Kano K., Shioda M. Chromosomal structure of the halophilic archaebacterium Halobacterium salinarium. J Bacteriol. 1992 Nov;174(22):7207–7216. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.22.7207-7216.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Wang X., Lutkenhaus J. FtsZ ring: the eubacterial division apparatus conserved in archaebacteria. Mol Microbiol. 1996 Jul;21(2):313–319. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1996.6421360.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Wheeler R. T., Shapiro L. Bacterial chromosome segregation: is there a mitotic apparatus? Cell. 1997 Mar 7;88(5):577–579. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81898-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Woese C. R., Fox G. E. Phylogenetic structure of the prokaryotic domain: the primary kingdoms. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Nov;74(11):5088–5090. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.11.5088. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Wold S., Skarstad K., Steen H. B., Stokke T., Boye E. The initiation mass for DNA replication in Escherichia coli K-12 is dependent on growth rate. EMBO J. 1994 May 1;13(9):2097–2102. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1994.tb06485.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Woldringh C. L., Jensen P. R., Westerhoff H. V. Structure and partitioning of bacterial DNA: determined by a balance of compaction and expansion forces? FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1995 Sep 15;131(3):235–242. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1995.tb07782.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES