This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Casadesús, J.
Right arrow Articles by Low, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Casadesús, J.
Right arrow Articles by Low, D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, September 2006, p. 830-856, Vol. 70, No. 3
1092-2172/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MMBR.00016-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Epigenetic Gene Regulation in the Bacterial World

Josep Casadesús1 and David Low2*

Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville 41080, Spain,1 Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 931062

Like many eukaryotes, bacteria make widespread use of postreplicative DNA methylation for the epigenetic control of DNA-protein interactions. Unlike eukaryotes, however, bacteria use DNA adenine methylation (rather than DNA cytosine methylation) as an epigenetic signal. DNA adenine methylation plays roles in the virulence of diverse pathogens of humans and livestock animals, including pathogenic Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Vibrio, Yersinia, Haemophilus, and Brucella. In Alphaproteobacteria, methylation of adenine at GANTC sites by the CcrM methylase regulates the cell cycle and couples gene transcription to DNA replication. In Gammaproteobacteria, adenine methylation at GATC sites by the Dam methylase provides signals for DNA replication, chromosome segregation, mismatch repair, packaging of bacteriophage genomes, transposase activity, and regulation of gene expression. Transcriptional repression by Dam methylation appears to be more common than transcriptional activation. Certain promoters are active only during the hemimethylation interval that follows DNA replication; repression is restored when the newly synthesized DNA strand is methylated. In the E. coli genome, however, methylation of specific GATC sites can be blocked by cognate DNA binding proteins. Blockage of GATC methylation beyond cell division permits transmission of DNA methylation patterns to daughter cells and can give rise to distinct epigenetic states, each propagated by a positive feedback loop. Switching between alternative DNA methylation patterns can split clonal bacterial populations into epigenetic lineages in a manner reminiscent of eukaryotic cell differentiation. Inheritance of self-propagating DNA methylation patterns governs phase variation in the E. coli pap operon, the agn43 gene, and other loci encoding virulence-related cell surface functions.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Room 3129, Biosci 2 Building, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106. Phone: (805) 893-6097. Fax: (805) 893-4724. E-mail: low{at}lifesci.ucsb.edu.

Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, September 2006, p. 830-856, Vol. 70, No. 3
1092-2172/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MMBR.00016-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • van Hijum, S. A. F. T., Medema, M. H., Kuipers, O. P. (2009). Mechanisms and Evolution of Control Logic in Prokaryotic Transcriptional Regulation. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 73: 481-509 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Coffin, S. R., Reich, N. O. (2009). Escherichia coli DNA Adenine Methyltransferase: THE STRUCTURAL BASIS OF PROCESSIVE CATALYSIS AND INDIRECT READ-OUT. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 18390-18400 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • John, M., Rubick, R., Schmitz, R. P. H., Rakoczy, J., Schubert, T., Diekert, G. (2009). Retentive Memory of Bacteria: Long-Term Regulation of Dehalorespiration in Sulfurospirillum multivorans. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1650-1655 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Humbert, O., Salama, N. R. (2008). The Helicobacter pylori HpyAXII restriction-modification system limits exogenous DNA uptake by targeting GTAC sites but shows asymmetric conservation of the DNA methyltransferase and restriction endonuclease components. Nucleic Acids Res 36: 6893-6906 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Jakomin, M., Chessa, D., Baumler, A. J., Casadesus, J. (2008). Regulation of the Salmonella enterica std Fimbrial Operon by DNA Adenine Methylation, SeqA, and HdfR. J. Bacteriol. 190: 7406-7413 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Coffin, S. R., Reich, N. O. (2008). Modulation of Escherichia coli DNA Methyltransferase Activity by Biologically Derived GATC-flanking Sequences. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 20106-20116 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Murphy, K. C., Ritchie, J. M., Waldor, M. K., Lobner-Olesen, A., Marinus, M. G. (2008). Dam Methyltransferase Is Required for Stable Lysogeny of the Shiga Toxin (Stx2)-Encoding Bacteriophage 933W of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7. J. Bacteriol. 190: 438-441 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Prieto, A. I., Jakomin, M., Segura, I., Pucciarelli, M. G., Ramos-Morales, F., Garcia-del Portillo, F., Casadesus, J. (2007). The GATC-Binding Protein SeqA Is Required for Bile Resistance and Virulence in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium. J. Bacteriol. 189: 8496-8502 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Falker, S., Schilling, J., Schmidt, M. A., Heusipp, G. (2007). Overproduction of DNA Adenine Methyltransferase Alters Motility, Invasion, and the Lipopolysaccharide O-Antigen Composition of Yersinia enterocolitica. Infect. Immun. 75: 4990-4997 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Evdokimov, A. A., Sclavi, B., Zinoviev, V. V., Malygin, E. G., Hattman, S., Buckle, M. (2007). Study of Bacteriophage T4-encoded Dam DNA (Adenine-N6)-methyltransferase Binding with Substrates by Rapid Laser UV Cross-linking. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 26067-26076 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fox, K. L., Dowideit, S. J., Erwin, A. L., Srikhanta, Y. N., Smith, A. L., Jennings, M. P. (2007). Haemophilus influenzae phasevarions have evolved from type III DNA restriction systems into epigenetic regulators of gene expression. Nucleic Acids Res 0: gkm571v2-11 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Badie, G., Heithoff, D. M., Sinsheimer, R. L., Mahan, M. J. (2007). Altered Levels of Salmonella DNA Adenine Methylase Are Associated with Defects in Gene Expression, Motility, Flagellar Synthesis, and Bile Resistance in the Pathogenic Strain 14028 but Not in the Laboratory Strain LT2. J. Bacteriol. 189: 1556-1564 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2010 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»