Synchronizing cell growth, division and DNA replication is an essential property of all living cells. Accurate coordination of these cellular events is especially crucial for bacteria, which can grow rapidly and undergo multifork replication. Here we show that the metabolic protein ManA, which is a component of mannose phosphotransferase system, participates in cell wall construction of the rod shaped bacterium Bacillus subtilis. When growing rapidly, cells lacking ManA exhibit aberrant cell wall architecture, polyploidy and abnormal chromosome morphologies. We demonstrate that these cellular defects are derived from the role played by ManA in cell wall formation. Furthermore, we show that ManA is required for maintaining the proper carbohydrate composition of the cell wall, particularly of teichoic acid constituents. This perturbed cell wall synthesis causes asynchrony between cell wall elongation, division and nucleoid segregation.

Chromosomal DNA is a constant source of information, essential for any given cell to respond and adapt to changing conditions. Here, we investigated the fate of exponentially growing bacterial cells experiencing a sudden and rapid loss of their entire chromosome. Utilizing Bacillus subtilis cells harboring an inducible copy of the endogenous toxin yqcG, which encodes an endonuclease, we induced the formation of a population of cells that lost their genetic information simultaneously. Surprisingly, these DNA-less cells, termed DLCs, did not lyse immediately and exhibited normal cellular morphology for a period of at least 5 h after DNA loss. This cellular integrity was manifested by their capacity to maintain an intact membrane and membrane potential and cell wall architecture similar to those of wild-type cells. Unlike growing cells that exhibit a dynamic profile of macromolecules, DLCs displayed steady protein and RNA reservoirs. Remarkably, following DLCs by time lapse microscopy revealed that they succeeded in synthesizing proteins, elongating, and dividing, apparently forming de novo Z rings at the midcell position. Taken together, the persistence of key cellular events in DLCs indicates that the information to carry out lengthy processes is harbored within the remaining molecular components.