A bacteriophage mimic of the bacterial nucleoid-associated protein Fis

Sharples, Gary J.; Heddle, Jonathan G.; Kozak, Maciej; Taube, Michał; Hughes, Timothy R; Pålsson, Lars-Olof; Bowers, Laura Y.; Curtis, Fiona A.; Plewka, Jacek; Świątek, Sylwia; Paterson, Joy R.; Jolma, Arttu; Yang, Ally W. H.; Gittens, William H.; Trotter, Alexander J.; Balakrishnan, Dhanasekaran; Chakraborti, Soumyananda

Abstract

We report the identification and characterization of a bacteriophage λ-encoded protein, NinH. Sequence homology suggests similarity between NinH and Fis, a bacterial nucleoid-associated protein involved in numerous DNA topology manipulations, including chromosome condensation, transcriptional regulation and phage site-specific recombination. We find that NinH functions as a homodimer and is able to bind and bend double-stranded DNA in vitro. Furthermore, NinH shows a preference for a 15 bp signature sequence related to the degenerate consensus favored by Fis. Structural studies reinforced the proposed similarity to Fis and supported identification of residues involved in DNA binding which were demonstrated experimentally. Overexpression of NinH proved toxic and this correlated with its capacity to associate with DNA. NinH is the first example of a phage-encoded Fis-like nucleoid-associated protein that likely influences phage excision-integration reactions or bacterial gene expression.

Citation

Sharples, G. J., Heddle, J. G., Kozak, M., Taube, M., Hughes, T. R., Pålsson, L.-O., Bowers, L. Y., Curtis, F. A., Plewka, J., Świątek, S., Paterson, J. R., Jolma, A., Yang, A. W. H., Gittens, W. H., Trotter, A. J., Balakrishnan, D., & Chakraborti, S. (2020). A bacteriophage mimic of the bacterial nucleoid-associated protein Fis. Biochemical Journal, 477(7), 1345-1362. https://doi.org/10.1042/bcj20200146

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 24, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 17, 2020
• Publication Date: Apr 17, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 30, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 20, 2020
• Journal: Biochemical Journal
• Print ISSN: 0264-6021
• Electronic ISSN: 1470-8728
• Publisher: Portland Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 477
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 1345-1362
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1042/bcj20200146
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1274257