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Science 28 January 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5709, pp. 586 - 590
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104885
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Reports

Sequence-Directed DNA Translocation by Purified FtsK

Paul J. Pease,1* Oren Levy,2* Gregory J. Cost,1 Jeff Gore,3 Jerod L. Ptacin,1 David Sherratt,5 Carlos Bustamante,1,3,4{dagger} Nicholas R. Cozzarelli1,2{dagger}

DNA translocases are molecular motors that move rapidly along DNA using adenosine triphosphate as the source of energy. We directly observed the movement of purified FtsK, an Escherichia coli translocase, on single DNA molecules. The protein moves at 5 kilobases per second and against forces up to 60 piconewtons, and locally reverses direction without dissociation. On three natural substrates, independent of its initial binding position, FtsK efficiently translocates over long distances to the terminal region of the E. coli chromosome, as it does in vivo. Our results imply that FtsK is a bidirectional motor that changes direction in response to short, asymmetric directing DNA sequences.

1 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–3204, USA.
2 Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–3204, USA.
3 Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–3204, USA.
4 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–3204, USA.
5 Division of Molecular Genetics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK.



* These authors contributed equally to this paper.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ncozzare{at}socrates.berkeley.edu (N.R.C.); carlos{at}alice.berkeley.edu (C.B.)

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