AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

The Dps (DNA-Binding Protein from Starved Cells) proteins are a class of stress-specific proteins with a major role in protecting DNA during the stationary phase of bacterial growth, through direct physical binding as well as ferroxidation. These proteins are characteristically dodecameric in nature. Mycobacterium smegmatis, which is the model organism used in this study has two Dps homologues- MsDps1 and MsDps2. MsDps1, that has previously been studied, is exceptional in having trimeric as well as dodecameric states in vitro. This work focuses on the functional domains of MsDps1, with respect to its oligomerisation and DNA binding property, the identification of a new Dps homologue MsDps2, the in vitro characterization of MsDps2 and elucidation of a possible function of the protein in the physiology of Mycobacterium smegmatis. The Thesis is organized as shown below: Chapter 1: The literature on the bacterial stationary phase physiology and the role of Dps has been reviewed in this chapter. It gives a brief introduction of the background of the present study including the stationary phase response of bacteria and the significance of studying bacteria under stress as apart from ideal conditions of growth, which has been the conventional approach until recently. The advantages of using Mycobacterium smegmatis as a model system, and its starvation-induced stationary phase are also discussed. An introduction to the Dps proteins as a family of proteins branched off from ferritins and nucleoid proteins is explained. A brief summary of the ferritin and nucleoid proteins is given. Similarities connecting Dps to both these protein families is described. The review of earlier work done in our laboratory on the mycobacterial MsDps1 protein is also presented. Chapter 2: involves the study of the solution properties of the protein including its ability to oligomerize in vitro. The MsDps1 protein exists in two forms, a trimer and a dodecamer. The trimer form is a unique feature of the M.smegmatis homologue. Dps proteins from other sources are characteristically dodecameric. Earlier studies have shown that the trimeric form of the protein can perform ferroxidation while the dodecamer can bind to DNA. The dodecamer can also perform ferroxidation and accumulate the oxidized iron in its negatively charged core. In this chapter, we show that the trimeric form is extremely stable, under various conditions of pHs. The protein, when over expressed in M.smegmatis, also shows the presence of the trimer, thus ruling out the effect of heterologous expression of the protein in E.coli. We further report here, the ideal conditions for dodecamerisation of the protein from trimer to dodecamer, which binds to DNA. The dodecamer once formed is also highly stable and does not revert back to the trimeric form. The structural stability of the dodecamer is expected, as it is the fully functional form of the protein that physically protects the DNA from stress. However, the high stability of the trimeric form and its precise…