Rodrigo Arana

Chromosome replication and segregation are two fundamental processes in the bacterial cell cycle that require tight coordination to ensure bacterial viability. The replication initiator DnaA is conserved in almost all bacteria and is responsible for initiating the chromosome replication process. Because of this function, it must be tightly regulated by multiple mechanisms. The most conserved segregation system in bacteria is the ParABS system, which actively segregates the origins via interactions between the partitioning protein ParA and the ParB-parS complex. Mechanistic details of these processes have been well characterized, however interconnections between each other have remained elusive. The goal of my project is to understand how the ParABS system regulates replication initiation in Caulobacter crescentus by directly or indirectly interacting with DnaA.