title: Promiscuous targeting of Bacillus subtilis cell division protein DivIVA to division sites in Escherichia coli and fission yeast.
abstract: The Bacillus subtilis divIVA gene encodes a coiled-coil protein that shows weak similarity to eukaryotic tropomyosins. The protein is targeted to the sites of cell division and mature cell poles where, in B.subtilis, it controls the site specificity of cell division. Although clear homologues of DivIVA are present only in Gram-positive bacteria, and its role in division site selection is not conserved in the Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli, a DivIVA-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion was targeted accurately to division sites and retained at the cell pole in this organism. Remarkably, the same fusion protein was also targeted to nascent division sites and growth zones in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, mimicking the localization of the endogenous tropomyosin-like cell division protein Cdc8p, and F-actin. The results show that a targeting signal for division sites is conserved across the eukaryote-prokaryote divide.
authors.affiliation: Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RE, UK.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Thomaides
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Errington
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000032:analysis; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001692:Biological Transport; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002455:Cell Division; D016764:Cell Polarity; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C410737:Cdc8 protein, S pombe; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C104636:DivIVA protein, bacteria; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins