Condensins in bacteria are one of the most important factors involved in the organization of long threads of DNA into compact chromosomes. The organization of DNA by condensins is vital to many DNA transactions including DNA repair and chromosome segregation. Although some of the activities of condensins are well studied, the mechanism of the overall process executed by condensins, DNA compaction, remains unclear. Here, we describe some of the methods used routinely in our laboratory to understand the mechanism of DNA compaction by Escherichia coli condensin MukB.
Keywords: Chromatin; Condensins; DNA bridging; DNA condensation; DNA looping; DNA supercoiling; MukB; SMC.