Journal article
Bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity in DNA repair and mutagenesis
- Abstract:
- Genetically identical cells frequently exhibit striking heterogeneity in various phenotypic traits such as their morphology, growth rate, or gene expression. Such non-genetic diversity can help clonal bacterial populations overcome transient environmental challenges without compromising genome stability, while genetic change is required for long-term heritable adaptation. At the heart of the balance between genome stability and plasticity are the DNA repair pathways that shield DNA from lesions and reverse errors arising from the imperfect DNA replication machinery. In principle, phenotypic heterogeneity in the expression and activity of DNA repair pathways can modulate mutation rates in single cells and thus be a source of heritable genetic diversity, effectively reversing the genotype-to-phenotype dogma. Long-standing evidence for mutation rate heterogeneity comes from genetics experiments on cell populations, which are now complemented by direct measurements on individual living cells. These measurements are increasingly performed using fluorescence microscopy with a temporal and spatial resolution that enables localising, tracking, and counting proteins with single-molecule sensitivity. In this review, we discuss which molecular processes lead to phenotypic heterogeneity in DNA repair and consider the potential consequences on genome stability and dynamics in bacteria. We further inspect these concepts in the context of DNA damage and mutation induced by antibiotics.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, 1.1MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1042/bst20190364
Authors
- Publisher:
- Portland Press
- Journal:
- Biochemical Society Transactions More from this journal
- Volume:
- 48
- Issue:
- 2
- Pages:
- 451-462
- Publication date:
- 2020-03-20
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-02-28
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1470-8752
- ISSN:
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0300-5127
- Pmid:
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32196548
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1097404
- Local pid:
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pubs:1097404
- Deposit date:
-
2020-06-08
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Vincent and Uphoff
- Copyright date:
- 2020
- Rights statement:
- © 2020 The Author(s) This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY). Open access for this article was enabled by the participation of the University of Oxford in an all-inclusive Read & Publish pilot with Portland Press and the Biochemical Society under a transformative agreement with JISC.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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