Energy Starvation Induces a Cell Cycle Arrest in Escherichia coli by Triggering Degradation of the DnaA Initiator Protein

Godefroid Charbon; Belén Mendoza-Chamizo; Christopher Campion; Xiaobo Li; Peter Ruhdal Jensen; Jakob Frimodt-Møller; Anders Løbner-Olesen

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2021.629953

Energy Starvation Induces a Cell Cycle Arrest in Escherichia coli by Triggering Degradation of the DnaA Initiator Protein

Front Mol Biosci. 2021 May 13:8:629953. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.629953. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Godefroid Charbon¹, Belén Mendoza-Chamizo¹, Christopher Campion¹, Xiaobo Li², Peter Ruhdal Jensen², Jakob Frimodt-Møller¹, Anders Løbner-Olesen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
² National Food Institute, Microbial Biotechnology and Biorefining, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.

Abstract

During steady-state Escherichia coli growth, the amount and activity of the initiator protein, DnaA, controls chromosome replication tightly so that initiation only takes place once per origin in each cell cycle, regardless of growth conditions. However, little is known about the mechanisms involved during transitions from one environmental condition to another or during starvation stress. ATP depletion is one of the consequences of long-term carbon starvation. Here we show that DnaA is degraded in ATP-depleted cells. A chromosome replication initiation block is apparent in such cells as no new rounds of DNA replication are initiated while replication events that have already started proceed to completion.

Keywords: DnaA protein; Escherichia coli; chromosome replication; degradation; energy starvation; initiation.