Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1994 Aug;176(16):4966–4973. doi: 10.1128/jb.176.16.4966-4973.1994

Effects of salt and temperature on plasmid topology in the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii.

F J Mojica 1, F Charbonnier 1, G Juez 1, F Rodríguez-Valera 1, P Forterre 1
PMCID: PMC196334  PMID: 8051009

Abstract

We report here the effect of environmental parameters, salinity, temperature, and an intercalating drug on plasmid topology in the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii. We first studied the topological state of the plasmid pHV11 in media of different salt compositions and concentrations. The superhelical density of plasmid PHV11 varies in a way that depends on the kind of salt and on the concentrations of individual salts. With respect to growth temperature, the plasmid linking number increased at higher temperature in a linear way, contrary to what has been reported for Escherichia coli, in which the plasmid linking number decreased at higher temperature. These results suggest that some of the mechanisms that control DNA supercoiling in halophilic Archaea may be different from those described for E. coli. However, homeostatic control of DNA supercoiling seems to occur in haloarchaea, as in Bacteria, since we found that relaxation of DNA by chloroquine triggers an increase in negative supercoiling.

Full text

PDF
4966

Images in this article

4968Image
on p.4968
4969Image
on p.4969
4969Image
on p.4969
4970Image
on p.4970
4970Image
on p.4970
4971Image
on p.4971

Selected References

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

  1. Anderson P., Bauer W. Supercoiling in closed circular DNA: dependence upon ion type and concentration. Biochemistry. 1978 Feb 21;17(4):594–601. doi: 10.1021/bi00597a006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bayley S. T., Morton R. A. Recent developments in the molecular biology of extremely halophilic bacteria. CRC Crit Rev Microbiol. 1978;6(2):151–205. doi: 10.3109/10408417809090622. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Boles T. C., White J. H., Cozzarelli N. R. Structure of plectonemically supercoiled DNA. J Mol Biol. 1990 Jun 20;213(4):931–951. doi: 10.1016/S0022-2836(05)80272-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bouthier de la Tour C., Portemer C., Nadal M., Stetter K. O., Forterre P., Duguet M. Reverse gyrase, a hallmark of the hyperthermophilic archaebacteria. J Bacteriol. 1990 Dec;172(12):6803–6808. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.12.6803-6808.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. CHRISTIAN J. H., WALTHO J. A. Solute concentrations within cells of halophilic and non-halophilic bacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1962 Dec 17;65:506–508. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(62)90453-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Charbonnier F., Erauso G., Barbeyron T., Prieur D., Forterre P. Evidence that a plasmid from a hyperthermophilic archaebacterium is relaxed at physiological temperatures. J Bacteriol. 1992 Oct;174(19):6103–6108. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.19.6103-6108.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Charbonnier F., Forterre P. Comparison of plasmid DNA topology among mesophilic and thermophilic eubacteria and archaebacteria. J Bacteriol. 1994 Mar;176(5):1251–1259. doi: 10.1128/jb.176.5.1251-1259.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Depew D. E., Wang J. C. Conformational fluctuations of DNA helix. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Nov;72(11):4275–4279. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.11.4275. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Dorman C. J., Ni Bhriain N., Higgins C. F. DNA supercoiling and environmental regulation of virulence gene expression in Shigella flexneri. Nature. 1990 Apr 19;344(6268):789–792. doi: 10.1038/344789a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Drlica K. Control of bacterial DNA supercoiling. Mol Microbiol. 1992 Feb;6(4):425–433. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb01486.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Esposito F., Sinden R. R. Supercoiling in prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA: changes in response to topological perturbation of plasmids in E. coli and SV40 in vitro, in nuclei and in CV-1 cells. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Jul 10;15(13):5105–5124. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.13.5105. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Goldstein E., Drlica K. Regulation of bacterial DNA supercoiling: plasmid linking numbers vary with growth temperature. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Jul;81(13):4046–4050. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.13.4046. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Grau R., Gardiol D., Glikin G. C., de Mendoza D. DNA supercoiling and thermal regulation of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis in Bacillus subtilis. Mol Microbiol. 1994 Mar;11(5):933–941. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1994.tb00372.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Higgins C. F., Dorman C. J., Stirling D. A., Waddell L., Booth I. R., May G., Bremer E. A physiological role for DNA supercoiling in the osmotic regulation of gene expression in S. typhimurium and E. coli. Cell. 1988 Feb 26;52(4):569–584. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90470-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Holmes M. L., Dyall-Smith M. L. Mutations in DNA gyrase result in novobiocin resistance in halophilic archaebacteria. J Bacteriol. 1991 Jan;173(2):642–648. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.2.642-648.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hsieh L. S., Rouviere-Yaniv J., Drlica K. Bacterial DNA supercoiling and [ATP]/[ADP] ratio: changes associated with salt shock. J Bacteriol. 1991 Jun;173(12):3914–3917. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.12.3914-3917.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kikuchi A., Asai K. Reverse gyrase--a topoisomerase which introduces positive superhelical turns into DNA. Nature. 1984 Jun 21;309(5970):677–681. doi: 10.1038/309677a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. McClellan J. A., Boublíková P., Palecek E., Lilley D. M. Superhelical torsion in cellular DNA responds directly to environmental and genetic factors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Nov;87(21):8373–8377. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.21.8373. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Menzel R., Gellert M. Regulation of the genes for E. coli DNA gyrase: homeostatic control of DNA supercoiling. Cell. 1983 Aug;34(1):105–113. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90140-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Mojica F. J., Juez G., Rodríguez-Valera F. Transcription at different salinities of Haloferax mediterranei sequences adjacent to partially modified PstI sites. Mol Microbiol. 1993 Aug;9(3):613–621. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb01721.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Mullakhanbhai M. F., Larsen H. Halobacterium volcanii spec. nov., a Dead Sea halobacterium with a moderate salt requirement. Arch Microbiol. 1975 Aug 28;104(3):207–214. doi: 10.1007/BF00447326. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Ni Bhriain N., Dorman C. J., Higgins C. F. An overlap between osmotic and anaerobic stress responses: a potential role for DNA supercoiling in the coordinate regulation of gene expression. Mol Microbiol. 1989 Jul;3(7):933–942. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1989.tb00243.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Pérez-Fillol M., Rodríguez-Valera F. Potassium ion accumulation in cells of different halobacteria. Microbiologia. 1986 Oct;2(2):73–80. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Saavedra R. A., Huberman J. A. Both DNA topoisomerases I and II relax 2 micron plasmid DNA in living yeast cells. Cell. 1986 Apr 11;45(1):65–70. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90538-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Sioud M., Baldacci G., de Recondo A. M., Forterre P. Novobiocin induces positive supercoiling of small plasmids from halophilic archaebacteria in vivo. Nucleic Acids Res. 1988 Feb 25;16(4):1379–1391. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.4.1379. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Sioud M., Possot O., Elie C., Sibold L., Forterre P. Coumarin and quinolone action in archaebacteria: evidence for the presence of a DNA gyrase-like enzyme. J Bacteriol. 1988 Feb;170(2):946–953. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.2.946-953.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Wang J. Y., Syvanen M. DNA twist as a transcriptional sensor for environmental changes. Mol Microbiol. 1992 Jul;6(14):1861–1866. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb01358.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. White J. H., Cozzarelli N. R., Bauer W. R. Helical repeat and linking number of surface-wrapped DNA. Science. 1988 Jul 15;241(4863):323–327. doi: 10.1126/science.3388041. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Woese C. R., Kandler O., Wheelis M. L. Towards a natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Jun;87(12):4576–4579. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.12.4576. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Yang C. F., DasSarma S. Transcriptional induction of purple membrane and gas vesicle synthesis in the archaebacterium Halobacterium halobium is blocked by a DNA gyrase inhibitor. J Bacteriol. 1990 Jul;172(7):4118–4121. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.7.4118-4121.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Zillig W. Comparative biochemistry of Archaea and Bacteria. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 1991 Dec;1(4):544–551. doi: 10.1016/s0959-437x(05)80206-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Zivanovic Y., Goulet I., Prunell A. Properties of supercoiled DNA in gel electrophoresis. The V-like dependence of mobility on topological constraint. DNA-matrix interactions. J Mol Biol. 1986 Dec 5;192(3):645–660. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90282-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES