DNA supercoiling plays essential role in maintaining proper chromosome structure, as well as the equilibrium between genome dynamics and stability under specific physicochemical and physiological conditions. In mesophilic organisms, DNA is negatively supercoiled and, until recently, positive supercoiling was considered a peculiar mark of (hyper)thermophilic archaea needed to survive high temperatures. However, several lines of evidence suggest that negative and positive supercoiling might coexist in both (hyper)thermophilic and mesophilic organisms, raising the possibility that positive supercoiling might serve as a regulator of various cellular events, such as chromosome condensation, gene expression, mitosis, sister chromatid cohesion, centromere identity and telomere homoeostasis.
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Conference Article|
January 19 2011
Positive supercoiling in thermophiles and mesophiles: of the good and evil
Anna Valenti;
Anna Valenti
1Institute of Protein Biochemistry, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy
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Giuseppe Perugino;
Giuseppe Perugino
1Institute of Protein Biochemistry, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy
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Mosè Rossi;
Mosè Rossi
1Institute of Protein Biochemistry, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy
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Maria Ciaramella
Maria Ciaramella
1
1Institute of Protein Biochemistry, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email m.ciaramella@ibp.cnr.it).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
September 08 2010
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2011 Biochemical Society
2011
Biochem Soc Trans (2011) 39 (1): 58–63.
Article history
Received:
September 08 2010
Citation
Anna Valenti, Giuseppe Perugino, Mosè Rossi, Maria Ciaramella; Positive supercoiling in thermophiles and mesophiles: of the good and evil. Biochem Soc Trans 1 February 2011; 39 (1): 58–63. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0390058
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