Publication Date:
2011-06-04
Description:
The peptidoglycan cell wall and the actin-like MreB cytoskeleton are major determinants of cell shape in rod-shaped bacteria. The prevailing model postulates that helical, membrane-associated MreB filaments organize elongation-specific peptidoglycan-synthesizing complexes along sidewalls. We used total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy to visualize the dynamic relation between MreB isoforms and cell wall synthesis in live Bacillus subtilis cells. During exponential growth, MreB proteins did not form helical structures. Instead, together with other morphogenetic factors, they assembled into discrete patches that moved processively along peripheral tracks perpendicular to the cell axis. Patch motility was largely powered by cell wall synthesis, and MreB polymers restricted diffusion of patch components in the membrane and oriented patch motion.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Dominguez-Escobar, Julia -- Chastanet, Arnaud -- Crevenna, Alvaro H -- Fromion, Vincent -- Wedlich-Soldner, Roland -- Carballido-Lopez, Rut -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Jul 8;333(6039):225-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1203466. Epub 2011 Jun 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21636744" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology
;
Bacillus subtilis/*growth & development/*metabolism/ultrastructure
;
Bacterial Proteins/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
;
Cell Membrane/metabolism
;
Cell Wall/*metabolism/ultrastructure
;
Diffusion
;
Membrane Proteins/chemistry/metabolism
;
Microscopy, Fluorescence
;
Models, Biological
;
Morphogenesis
;
Motion
;
Mutation
;
Peptidoglycan/*metabolism
;
Polymerization
;
Protein Isoforms/chemistry/metabolism
;
Recombinant Fusion Proteins/chemistry/metabolism
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
