Sincronización de<em> Caulobacter crescentus</em> Para la Investigación del Ciclo Celular Bacteriana
Summary
Synchronization of bacterial cells is essential for studies of the bacterial cell cycle and development. Caulobacter crescentus is synchronizable through density centrifugation allowing a rapid and powerful tool for studies of the bacterial cell cycle. Here we provide a detailed protocol for the synchronization of Caulobacter cells.
Abstract
The cell cycle is important for growth, genome replication, and development in all cells. In bacteria, studies of the cell cycle have focused largely on unsynchronized cells making it difficult to order the temporal events required for cell cycle progression, genome replication, and division. Caulobacter crescentus provides an excellent model system for the bacterial cell cycle whereby cells can be rapidly synchronized in a G0 state by density centrifugation. Cell cycle synchronization experiments have been used to establish the molecular events governing chromosome replication and segregation, to map a genetic regulatory network controlling cell cycle progression, and to identify the establishment of polar signaling complexes required for asymmetric cell division. Here we provide a detailed protocol for the rapid synchronization of Caulobacter NA1000 cells. Synchronization can be performed in a large-scale format for gene expression profiling and western blot assays, as well as a small-scale format for microscopy or FACS assays. The rapid synchronizability and high cell yields of Caulobacter make this organism a powerful model system for studies of the bacterial cell cycle.
Introduction
El ciclo celular bacteriana controla tanto la replicación del genoma y la división de las células hijas. Es importante destacar que, como la resistencia a los antibióticos es una amenaza creciente para la salud pública, el ciclo celular bacteriana presenta un objetivo sin explotar para el desarrollo de antibióticos.
En la bacteria Caulobacter crescentus, cada ciclo celular conduce a una división asimétrica, produciendo dos células hijas de diferentes destinos (Figura 1A) 1,2. Una célula hija hereda un flagelo y es móvil, mientras que la otra hija hereda un tallo y es sésiles. Un circuito genético integrado controla la progresión del ciclo celular y destino celular mediante la regulación transcripcional, fosfo-señalización, y proteólisis regulada 3. Además, la replicación de cromosomas y células hijas rendimiento segregación concurrentes que contienen exactamente una copia del cromosoma 4. Es importante destacar que estos dos tipos de células se pueden separar rápidamente por colloidal partícula de sílice centrifugación de densidad en la cepa NA1000 sincronizable 5-7 permitiendo el aislamiento de las células swarmer del resto de la población con altos rendimientos (Figura 1B). Aislado swarmer células luego proceder de forma sincrónica a través de la división celular asimétrica. Aquí, detallamos el protocolo utilizado para sincronizar Caulobacter cepa NA1000. Proporcionamos protocolos y sugerencias para solucionar problemas comunes para ambos de gran y pequeña escala sincronizaciones. Este procedimiento experimental proporciona una poderosa herramienta para interrogar el control espacio-temporal del ciclo celular Caulobacter y destino celular.
Protocol
Representative Results
Discussion
The bacterial cell cycle is a fundamental process in life and is important for the study of growth and as a target for next generation antibiotics. Here, we detailed the rapid synchronization procedures for C. crescentus NA1000, a model organism for the study of the bacterial cell cycle and asymmetric cell division. This method is amendable to western blot, gene expression profiling, and fluorescence microscopy assays to investigate the spatiotemporal regulation of the bacterial cell cycle.
<p class='jove_…Divulgations
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank members of the Shapiro lab and Erin Schrader for comments on the manuscript. The authors acknowledge financial support from: NIH postdoctoral fellowship F32 GM100732 to JMS and NIH grants R01 GM51426 and R01 GM32506 to LS.
Materials
| Name of Material/ Equipment | Company | Catalog Number | Comments/Description |
| PVP Coated Colloidal Silica (Percoll) | Sigma-Aldrich | P4937 | |
| Colloidal Silica (Ludox AS-40) | Sigma-Aldrich | 420840 | |
| JA10 Rotor | Beckman-Coulter | 369687 | |
| JA20 Rotor | Beckman-Coulter | 334831 | |
| Ferrous Sulfate Chelate Solution | Sigma-Aldrich | F0518 | |
| 30 mL Centrifuge Tubes | Corning | 8445 | |
| Na2HPO4 | EMD | SX0720-1 | |
| KH2PO4 | VWR | BDH9268-500G | |
| NH4Cl | Amresco | 0621-500g |
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