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This process occurs in bacteria, whose single circular DNA is cut by DNA gyrase and the two ends are then twisted around each other to form supercoils. Gyrase is also found in eukaryotic plastids: it has been found in the apicoplast of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum [5] [6] and in chloroplasts of several plants. [7]
Type II topoisomerases increase or decrease the linking number of a DNA loop by 2 units, and it promotes chromosome disentanglement. For example, DNA gyrase, a type II topoisomerase observed in E. coli and most other prokaryotes, introduces negative supercoils and decreases the linking number by 2.
The process of bacterial cell division is defined as binary fission, where a bacterium splits to produce two daughter cells. [4] This division occurs during cytokinesis, which in bacteria is made possible due to the divisome (a specific large protein complex) and FtsZ (the ancestor to tubulin for bacteria that drives cytokinesis itself). [4]
A negatively supercoiled DNA molecule will produce either a one-start left-handed helix, the toroid, or a two-start right-handed helix with terminal loops, the plectoneme. Plectonemes are typically more common in nature, and this is the shape most bacterial plasmids will take.
With DNA in its "relaxed" state, a strand usually circles the axis of the double helix once every 10.4 base pairs, but if the DNA is twisted the strands become more tightly or more loosely wound. [43] If the DNA is twisted in the direction of the helix, this is positive supercoiling, and the bases are held more tightly together.
The restriction modification system (RM system) is found in bacteria and archaea, and provides a defense against foreign DNA, such as that borne by bacteriophages.. Bacteria have restriction enzymes, also called restriction endonucleases, which cleave double-stranded DNA at specific points into fragments, which are then degraded further by other endonucleases.
There are two main types of bacterial cell walls, those of Gram-positive bacteria and those of Gram-negative bacteria, which are differentiated by their Gram staining characteristics. For both these types of bacteria, particles of approximately 2 nm can pass through the peptidoglycan. [3]
Integration host factor, IHF, is not a nucleoid-associated protein only found in gram negative bacteria. [15] It is a 20 kDa heterodimer, composed of α and β subunits that bind to the sequence 5' - WATCAANNNNTTR - 3' and bends the DNA approximately 160 degrees. [16] The β arms of IHF have Proline residues that help stabilize the DNA kinks.