PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tsuyoshi Terekawa
AU  - Shveta Bisht
AU  - Jorine M. Eeftens
AU  - Cees Dekker
AU  - Christian H. Haering
AU  - Eric C. Greene
TI  - The condensin complex is a mechanochemical motor that translocates along DNA
AID  - 10.1101/137711
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 137711
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/13/137711.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/13/137711.full
AB  - One Sentence Summary Single-molecule imaging reveals that eukaryotic condensin is a highly processive DNA-translocating motor complex.Abstract Condensin plays crucial roles in chromosome organization and compaction, but the mechanistic basis for its functions remains obscure. Here, we use single-molecule imaging to demonstrate that Saccharomyces cerevisiae condensin is a molecular motor capable of ATP hydrolysis-dependent translocation along double-stranded DNA. Condensin’s translocation activity is rapid and highly processive, with individual complexes traveling an average distance of ≥10 kilobases at a velocity of ∼60 base pairs per second. Our results suggest that condensin may take steps comparable in length to its ∼50-nanometer coiled-coil subunits, suggestive of a translocation mechanism that is distinct from any reported DNA motor protein. The finding that condensin is a mechanochemical motor has important implications for understanding the mechanisms of chromosome organization and condensation.