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Biocrystallization in Bacterial and Fungal Cells and Spores

Journal Article · · Crystallography Reports
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  1. Russian Academy of Sciences, Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics (Russian Federation)
  2. Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Centre “Fundamentals of Biotechnology,” (Russian Federation)
  3. Moscow State University (Russian Federation)
  4. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (France)
A series of X-ray diffraction experiments were performed for the first time to study stress-induced biocrystallization (structural response to stress) in the bacteria E. coli, the spore-forming bacteria Bacillus cereus, and in cells and spores of the mycelial fungus Umbelopsis ramanniana. High-intensity areas with spacings of 90 and 44 Å are indicative of a periodically ordered arrangement (most likely nanocrystalline) of the bacterial nucleoid. For the starved bacteria Bacillus cereus, a peak at a spacing of 45 Å is also assigned to nanocrystalline complexes of DNA with the Dps protein. The spores of the fungus Umbelopsis ramanniana VKM F-582, as well as the spores of Bacillus cereus, form ordered arrays of DNA molecules with DNA-condensing acid-soluble proteins SASPs. Starved dehydrated mycelial cells of the fungus Umbelopsis ramanniana form ordered structures with spacings from 27 to 55 Å. A series of peaks reflect the formation of a number of ordered protein arrays, apparently with DNA, with continuously varying characteristic interplanar spacings.
OSTI ID:
22758218
Journal Information:
Crystallography Reports, Journal Name: Crystallography Reports Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 63; ISSN 1063-7745; ISSN CYSTE3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English