Assembly of Helicobacter pylori Initiation Complex Is Determined by Sequence-Specific and Topology-Sensitive DnaA–oriC Interactions

What is it about?

The article concerns the details of the structure of the Helicobacter pylori bipartite origin of replication. In previous work (Donczew et al., 2012; NAR) we found that the interaction of the DnaA initiator protein with oriC2 subregion is affected by the DNA topology. In this work we identified the specific motifs responsible for this feature and we analyzed in details the role of particular oriC2 elements in replication initiation.

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Why is it important?

The role of DNA topology in controling the interaction of the initiator protein with a bacterial origin is a unique feature. Here, we managed to identify the DnaA boxes responsible for such interaction. Furthermore, we found that the H. pylori oriC region might be functionally divided, similarly as was proposed for E. coli. Our work sheds new light on the mechanism of the replication initiation in bacteria in general and opens up new possibilities to study this process in H. pylori.