Title: Replication initiator DnaA binds at the <i>Caulobacter</i> centromere and enables chromosome segregation
Abstract: Significance DnaA is an essential and conserved bacterial protein that enables the initiation of DNA replication. Although it is commonly held that the onset of bacterial chromosome segregation depends on the initiation of DNA replication, we have found that in Caulobacter crescentus , chromosome segregation can be induced in a DnaA-dependent, yet replication-independent manner. The chromosome replication origin, containing essential DnaA binding motifs, resides 8 kb from the centromere parS region that also contains DnaA binding motifs. The centromere parS region bound to the ParB partition protein initiates movement across the cell followed by the origin region. Mutations in a centromere DnaA motif that alter DnaA–centromere interaction exhibit aberrant patterns of ParB/ parS translocation, implicating DnaA in the process of chromosome segregation.