Cell morphology and nucleoid dynamics in dividing D. radiodurans.

In this study, IBS researchers (VIC group/Timmins team in collaboration with DYNAMOP group/ Bourgeois team) demonstrated through conventional fluorescence microscopy and super-resolution approaches, the organization and dynamics of the nucleoid of Deinococcus radiodurans, a bacterium well known for its outstanding radiation resistance. This work revealed for the first time that bacterial nucleoids are complex entities that change structure as a function of the cell cycle and can adopt more or less compact conformations. The HU protein seems to play a key role in this process.

Cell morphology and nucleoid dynamics in dividing D. radiodurans. Floc’h K, Lacroix F, Servant P, Wong YS, Kleman JP, Bourgeois D and Timmins. Nature Communications ; 10(1):3815