Live to fight another day: The bacterial nucleoid under stress

Abstract

The bacterial chromosome is both highly supercoiled and bound by an ensemble of proteins and RNA, causing the DNA to form a compact structure termed the nucleoid. The nucleoid serves to condense, protect, and control access to the bacterial chromosome through a variety of mechanisms that remain incompletely understood. The nucleoid is also a dynamic structure, able to change both in size and composition. The dynamic nature of the bacterial nucleoid is particularly apparent when studying the effects of various stresses on bacteria, which require cells to protect their DNA and alter patterns of transcription. Stresses can lead to large changes in the organization and composition of the nucleoid on timescales as short as a few minutes. Here, we summarize some of the recent advances in our understanding of how stress can alter the organization of bacterial chromosomes.