Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes Complexes in Bacteria.

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complexes are conserved ATP-driven machines that organize, compact, and segregate genomes in all domains of life. Despite variation in subunit composition and regulation, all SMC complexes share a core structure and mechanism of action. Bacteria possess two major classes of SMC complexes, SMC-ScpAB and MukBEF, which function in chromosome compaction and segregation. In addition, some bacteria contain other SMC complexes or SMC-like systems such as MksBEF, Wadjet, RecN, and SbcC, each with specialized functions. Bacterial SMC complexes coordinate genome maintenance, DNA replication, DNA repair, plasmid defense, and cell physiology. In this review, we discuss the structure and function of these bacterial SMC complexes, highlighting the shared characteristics and unique strategies employed by each.