Synchronization of Chromosome Dynamics and Cell Division in Bacteria

Thanbichler, Martin

doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a000331

Cited by 54 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 140 publications

(166 reference statements)

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“…Comparisons between these organisms make it clear that cell cycle regulation differs between them in some fundamental aspects. For example, E. coli and B. subtilis exhibit multifork chromosome replication during rapid growth under nutrient-rich conditions, whereas C. crescentus does not reinitiate chromosome replication until the previous round of replication as well as cell division have been completed 1,2 . It is not known how events of the chromosome replication and cell division cycles are coordinated in the distantly related and more slowly growing microorganisms of the genus Mycobacterium.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-cell dynamics of the chromosome replication and cell division cycles in mycobacteria

et al. 2013

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During the bacterial cell cycle, chromosome replication and cell division must be coordinated with overall cell growth in order to maintain the correct ploidy and cell size. The spatial and temporal coordination of these processes in mycobacteria is not understood. Here we use microfluidics and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy to measure the dynamics of cell growth, division and chromosome replication in single cells of Mycobacterium smegmatis. We find that single-cell growth is size-dependent (large cells grow faster than small cells), which implicates a size-control mechanism in cell-size homoeostasis. Asymmetric division of mother cells gives rise to unequally sized sibling cells that grow at different velocities but show no differential sensitivity to antibiotics. Individual cells are restricted to one round of chromosome replication per cell division cycle, although replication usually initiates in the mother cell before cytokinesis and terminates in the daughter cells after cytokinesis. These studies reveal important differences between cell cycle organization in mycobacteria compared with better-studied model organisms.

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confidence: 99%

Single-cell dynamics of the chromosome replication and cell division cycles in mycobacteria

et al. 2013

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“…The underlying processes, which determine cell shape, are intimately intertwined with cell division and constitute pivotal issues for cell biology; their coordination in prokaryotes is mediated through counterparts of eukaryotic actin, tubulin, and intermediate filaments in addition to other specific components (1,2). Several of these apparent cytoskeletal elements capitalize on their membrane binding properties, assembling along the longitudinal axis, between the poles of rod-shaped cells; they participate in many processes, including selection of the division site via the Min system and other components (3,4); guidance and control of the cell wall biosynthetic machinery responsible for cell size, polarity, and shape through the actin-like protein MreB (5-11); and chromosome partitioning into daughter cells using another actin-like filament, ParM (12).…”

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confidence: 99%

Supramolecular structure in the membrane of Staphylococcus aureus

García‐Lara

Weihs

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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All life demands the temporal and spatial control of essential biological functions. In bacteria, the recent discovery of coordinating elements provides a framework to begin to explain cell growth and division. Here we present the discovery of a supramolecular structure in the membrane of the coccal bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which leads to the formation of a largescale pattern across the entire cell body; this has been unveiled by studying the distribution of essential proteins involved in lipid metabolism (PlsY and CdsA). The organization is found to require MreD, which determines morphology in rod-shaped cells. The distribution of protein complexes can be explained as a spontaneous pattern formation arising from the competition between the energy cost of bending that they impose on the membrane, their entropy of mixing, and the geometric constraints in the system. Our results provide evidence for the existence of a self-organized and nonpercolating molecular scaffold involving MreD as an organizer for optimal cell function and growth based on the intrinsic self-assembling properties of biological molecules.T he perpetuation of all cellular life requires the temporal and spatial management of essential biological functions, within the morphological framework characteristic of a specific organism. The underlying processes, which determine cell shape, are intimately intertwined with cell division and constitute pivotal issues for cell biology; their coordination in prokaryotes is mediated through counterparts of eukaryotic actin, tubulin, and intermediate filaments in addition to other specific components (1, 2). Several of these apparent cytoskeletal elements capitalize on their membrane binding properties, assembling along the longitudinal axis, between the poles of rod-shaped cells; they participate in many processes, including selection of the division site via the Min system and other components (3, 4); guidance and control of the cell wall biosynthetic machinery responsible for cell size, polarity, and shape through the actin-like protein MreB (5-11); and chromosome partitioning into daughter cells using another actin-like filament, ParM (12).Despite this set of highly coordinated mechanisms, it has recently been shown that otherwise rod-and cocci-shaped bacteria can exist as largely spherical wall-less forms known as L-forms, with the capacity to divide (13). Importantly, the division of L-forms of the rod-shaped bacterium Bacillus subtilis is freed from the requirement of the classical tubulin-like division component FtsZ (14). L-forms appear to divide by scission after blebbing, tabulation, or vesiculation dependent on an altered rate of membrane biosynthesis (15); this harks back perhaps to a more evolutionary primitive mechanism permitting cellular proliferation. Thus, are there underlying organizational mechanisms that exist, independent of apparent cytoskeletal elements? The fluid mosaic model proposing the free diffusion of membrane proteins through the lipids has been challenged by growing e...

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“…FtsK from Escherichia coli has yielded much functional information about the role of these proteins in terminus resolution during chromosome segregation (a more detailed account of its recombination function may be found in Thanbichler 2009). SpoIIIE, which has a specialized function during the asymmetric division of sporulating Bacillus subtilis cells, has produced complementary information about these transporters.…”

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confidence: 99%

Membrane-associated DNA Transport Machines

Burton¹,

Dubnau²

2010

Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology

119

118

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DNA pumps play important roles in bacteria during cell division and during the transfer of genetic material by conjugation and transformation. The FtsK/SpoIIIE proteins carry out the translocation of double-stranded DNA to ensure complete chromosome segregation during cell division. In contrast, the complex molecular machines that mediate conjugation and genetic transformation drive the transport of single stranded DNA. The transformation machine also processes this internalized DNA and mediates its recombination with the resident chromosome during and after uptake, whereas the conjugation apparatus processes DNA before transfer. This article reviews these three types of DNA pumps, with attention to what is understood of their molecular mechanisms, their energetics and their cellular localizations.T he transport of DNA across membranes by bacteria occurs during sporulation, during cytokinesis, directly from other cells and from the environment. This review addresses the question "how is the DNA polyanion transferred processively across the hydrophobic membrane barrier"? DNA transport must occur through waterfilled channels, at least conceptually addressing the problem posed by the hydrophobic membrane. DNA transporters presumably use metabolic energy directly or a coupled-flow (symporter or antiporter) mechanism to drive DNA processively through the channel. It is possible that a Brownian ratchet mechanism, in which directionality is imposed on a diffusive process, also contributes to transport.In this article, we will consider several DNA transport systems. We will begin with the simplest one, namely the FtsK/SpoIIIE system that is involved in cell division and sporulation. We will then turn to the more complex, multiprotein DNA uptake systems that accomplish genetic transformation (the uptake of environmental DNA from the environment) and the conjugation systems of Gram-negative bacteria that mediate the unidirectional transfer of DNA between cells. In each case we will discuss the proteins involved, their actions and the sources of energy that drive transport. Space limitations prevent discussion of other relevant topics, such as DNA transport during bacteriophage infection and more than a brief reference to conjugation in Gram-positive bacteria.

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Synchronization of Chromosome Dynamics and Cell Division in Bacteria

Cited by 54 publications

References 140 publications

Single-cell dynamics of the chromosome replication and cell division cycles in mycobacteria

Single-cell dynamics of the chromosome replication and cell division cycles in mycobacteria

Supramolecular structure in the membrane of Staphylococcus aureus

Membrane-associated DNA Transport Machines

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