Chromosome replication is a fundamental process in all domains of life. To accurately transmit genetic material to offspring, the initiation of chromosome replication is tightly regulated to ensure that it occurs only once in each cell division cycle. In the model bacterium Caulobacter crescentus, the CtrA response regulator inhibits the origin of replication at the pre-replication stage. Inactivation of CtrA permits the universal DnaA initiator to form an initiation complex at the origin, leading to replication initiation. Subsequently, the initiation complex is inactivated to prevent extra initiation. Whereas DNA replication occurs periodically in exponentially growing cells, replication initiation is blocked under various stress conditions to halt cell cycle progression until the normal condition is restored or the cells adapt to the stress. Thus, regulating the initiation complex plays an important role in not only driving cell cycle progression, but also maintaining cell integrity under stress. Multiple regulatory signaling pathways controlling CtrA and DnaA have been identified and recent studies have advanced our knowledge of the underlying mechanistic and molecular processes. This review focuses on how bacterial cells control replication initiation, highlighting the latest findings that have emerged from studies in C. crescentus.

Genome instability is a cause of cellular senescence. The ribosomal RNA gene repeat (rDNA) is one of the most unstable regions in the genome and its instability is proposed to be a major inducer of cellular senescence and restricted lifespan. We previously conducted a genome-wide screen using a budding yeast deletion library to identify mutants that exhibit a change in the stability of the rDNA region, compared to the wild-type. To investigate the correlation between rDNA stability and lifespan, we examined deletion mutants with very stable rDNA and found that deletion of EAF3, encoding a component of the NuA4 histone acetyltransferase complex, reproducibly resulted in increased stabilization of the rDNA. In the absence of Eaf3, and of other subunits of the NuA4 complex, we observed lower levels of extrachromosomal rDNA circles that are produced by recombination in the rDNA and are thus an indicator of rDNA instability. The replicative lifespan in the eaf3 mutant was extended by ~30%, compared to the wild-type strain. Our findings provide evidence that rDNA stability is correlated with extended replicative lifespan. The eaf3 mutation possibly affects the non-coding transcription in rDNA that regulates rDNA recombination through cohesin dissociation.

The cytosolic sulfotransferase 1 (SULT1) proteins are a family of highly divergent proteins that show variable expansion in different species during vertebrate evolution. To clarify the evolutionary origin of the mammalian lineage of the SULT1 family, we compiled Xenopus laevis and X. tropicalis SULT1 (XSULT1) sequences from public databases. The XSULT1 family was found to comprise at least six subfamilies, which corresponded in part to five mammalian SULT1 subfamilies but only poorly to zebrafish SULT1 subfamilies. SULT1C was most highly expanded, and could be divided into at least five subfamilies. A cDNA for X. laevis SULT1B (XlSULT1B.S), a homolog of mammalian SULT1B1, was cloned and its recombinant protein was expressed in a bacterial system. XlSULT1B.S, unlike mammalian SULT1B1, was found to be a monomeric protein of ~34 kDa, and displayed sulfonating activity toward 2-naphthol and p-nitrophenol (pNP). However, we could not detect such sulfonating activity toward any endogenous compounds including thyroid hormones, steroid hormones and dopamine, despite the fact that X. laevis and Rana catesbeiana liver cytosols contained sulfonating activity toward most of these endogenous compounds. At optimum pH (6.4), the Michaelis–Menten constant (K_m) for pNP was two orders of magnitude greater in XlSULT1B.S (1.04 mM) than in the cytosol preparations (8–15 μM). Our results indicate that Xenopus possesses a prototype of the mammalian SULT1 family, and that XlSULT1B.S showed overall similarities in primary sequence to, and significant differences in molecular and enzymatic properties from, mammalian SULT1B1.

The amphidromous sleeper Eleotris oxycephala (Perciformes: Eleotridae) is mainly distributed along the Kuroshio Current in East Asia, and this current is thought to be the main driver of the species’ dispersal. Due to anthropogenic environmental changes in rivers, E. oxycephala is ranked as a threatened or near-threatened species in the red lists of 12 prefectures in Japan. Moreover, there is concern that the species’ dispersal pattern could be changed due to fluctuations in the Kuroshio Current caused by global warming. In this study, 40 microsatellite markers were developed for E. oxycephala, and their suitability was tested on 43 individuals from two populations of E. oxycephala from Kanagawa and Miyazaki Prefectures. The number of alleles, expected heterozygosity and fixation index at each locus were 2–10 (mean = 5.350), 0.034–0.860 (mean = 0.650) and −0.261–0.448 (mean = 0.065), respectively. Furthermore, there was a lack of genetic difference between the two populations (F_ST = 0.008, F’_ST = 0.024), indicating widespread gene flow via the Kuroshio Current. These markers will be useful to evaluate the genetic structure and infer population demographic history of E. oxycephala populations, which may assist in the conservation of this species.

Gastrodia is the most species-rich genus among mycoheterotrophic plants, and is thus an essential taxon to understand the mechanism of species diversification in mycoheterotrophs. In this study, we developed microsatellite markers with high transferability for four Gastrodia species to examine genetic differentiation and similarity among species, populations and individuals. The 12 microsatellite markers developed from a G. fontinalis library showed high transferability for the ramets that identified G. nipponica, G. kuroshimensis and G. takeshimensis. In addition to the high transferability of these markers, we observed low allele variation within a sampled population of each species and allele differences among the four species. The 12 markers described here will be useful for investigating the genetic differences among and within the Gastrodia species, which evolved by a limitation of gene flow.