PeerJ Author & Reviewer
235 Points
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Digvijay A Patil
PeerJ Author & Reviewer
Summary
Biochemistry Bioengineering Bioorganic Chemistry Biotechnology Genetics Microbiology Molecular Biology
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Work details
Research Associate
Georgetown University
May 2012
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
In Escherichia coli (E. coli), anionic phospholipids such as phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and cardiolipin (CL), participate in several cellular functions. E. coli cells depleted in acidic phospholipids result in retarded growth due to under-initiation at the origin of replication (oriC) with concomitant reduction of chromosomal content and cell mass. Studies in bacteria suggest possible crosstalk between bacterial inner membrane acidic phospholipids and the DnaA, an initiator of chromosomal replication, in controlling a spatial and temporal regulation of chromosomal replication. Strong evidence that supports this hypothesis is the ability of a single point mutation in membrane binding amphipathic helix of E. coli DnaA, DnaA(L366K), to rescue growth in cells with an altered phospholipid content. Biochemical and genetic approaches are applied in Dr. Crooke’s laboratory to examine underlying mechanisms enabling mutant DnaA to bypass the necessity of acidic phospholipids in maintaining the cell viability. My focus of the study is to investigate the role of lipoprotein-intermediate influenced poisoning of oriC mediated DnaA dependent initiation of replication in E. coli.