Mechanisms for chromosome segregation

Bacteria face the problem of segregating their gigantic chromosomes without a segregation period restricted in time and space, as Eukaryotes do. Segregation thus involves multiple activities, general or specific of a chromosome region and differentially controlled. Recent advances show that these various mechanisms conform to a “pair and release” rule, which appears as a general rule in DNA segregation. We describe the latest advances in segregation of bacterial chromosomes with emphasis on the different pair and release mechanisms.