Figure 1. The M. xanthus genome encodes a parABS locus and contains 24 parS sequences in the ori proximal region.

(A) The parABS locus. Seven parS sequences encoded on the - strand are indicated in red, the remaining 17 are indicated in black. A weblogo (version 2.8.2; http://weblogo.berkeley.edu/) based on the 24 parS sequences is shown above. Coordinates.of the parABS locus are relative to the start codon of parA. (B, C) Electrophoretic mobility shift assays of DNA binding by His₆-ParB. A double-stranded 5′-HEX-labelled 26 bp oligonucleotide pair containing a consensus parS site (weblogo on the left, B) or a parS site with two substitutions (weblogo on the left, C) (each 100 nM) was incubated without additives (lane 1), with increasing amounts of His₆-ParB (lanes 2–7) or 6 µM BSA (lane 8). Free and protein bound DNA are indicated.