Kaiser, A. J. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2026

Competing forms of protein-protein association and DNA binding exhibited by BrxC from the BREX phage restriction system

Bacteriophage exclusion (BREX) defense systems restrict phage infection via inhibition of phage DNA replication, while also modifying and protecting the bacterial genome. Type I BREX systems encode six conserved proteins, including a site-specific DNA methyltransferase. Host methylation requires a subset of BREX proteins, whereas phage restriction generally requires them all, suggesting that distinct but overlapping complexes mediate these activities. Full details of the mechanism and regulation of BREX remains to be understood. Here, we characterize the behavior and structures of the conserved BrxC AAA+ ATPase protein. BrxC forms multiple competing assemblages - various self-associating multimers, as well as a complex with BrxB-PglZ - that can be uncoupled via distinct point mutations, leading to differing effects on host methylation versus phage restriction. BrxCs self-association, as well as its ability to bind DNA, is regulated by ATP binding and hydrolysis; BrxA and BrxB appear to also regulate those behaviors. These collective results suggest that BrxC may play a key role in controlling the two activities of BREX, with BrxB, BrxC and PglZ forming a core complex, and the equilibrium among competing assemblies containing those proteins modulating the balance between idling and activated restrictive states.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2019

Individual neuronal subtypes control initial myelin sheath growth and stabilization

BackgroundIn the developing central nervous system, pre-myelinating oligodendrocytes sample candidate nerve axons by extending and retracting process extensions. Some contacts stabilize, leading to the initiation of axon wrapping, nascent myelin sheath formation, concentric wrapping and sheath elongation, and sheath stabilization or pruning by oligodendrocytes. Although axonal signals influence the overall process of myelination, the precise oligodendrocyte behaviors that require signaling from axons are not completely understood. In this study, we investigated whether oligodendrocyte behaviors during the early events of myelination are mediated by an oligodendrocyte-intrinsic myelination program or are over-ridden by axonal factors.\n\nMethodsTo address this, we utilized in vivo time-lapse imaging in embryonic and larval zebrafish spinal cord during the initial hours and days of axon wrapping and myelination. Transgenic reporter lines marked individual axon subtypes or oligodendrocyte membranes.\n\nResultsIn the larval zebrafish spinal cord, individual axon subtypes supported distinct nascent sheath growth rates and stabilization frequencies. Oligodendrocytes ensheathed individual axon subtypes at different rates during a two-day period after initial axon wrapping. When descending reticulospinal axons were ablated, local spinal axons supported a constant ensheathment rate despite the increased ratio of oligodendrocytes to target axons.\n\nConclusionWe conclude that properties of individual axon subtypes instruct oligodendrocyte behaviors during initial stages of myelination by differentially controlling nascent sheath growth and stabilization.

neuroscience↗