title: Presence of multiple sites containing polar material in spherical Escherichia coli cells that lack MreB.
abstract: In rod-shaped bacteria, certain proteins are specifically localized to the cell poles. The nature of the positional information that leads to the proper localization of these proteins is unclear. In a screen for factors required for the localization of the Shigella sp. actin assembly protein IcsA to the bacterial pole, a mutant carrying a transposon insertion in mreB displayed altered targeting of IcsA. The phenotype of cells containing a transposon insertion in mreB was indistinguishable from that of cells containing a nonpolar mutation in mreB or that of wild-type cells treated with the MreB inhibitor A22. In cells lacking MreB, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion to a cytoplasmic derivative of IcsA localized to multiple sites. Secreted full-length native IcsA was present in multiple faint patches on the surfaces of these cells in a pattern similar to that seen for the cytoplasmic IcsA-GFP fusion. EpsM, the polar Vibrio cholerae inner membrane protein, also localized to multiple sites in mreB cells and colocalized with IcsA, indicating that localization to multiple sites is not unique to IcsA. Our results are consistent with the requirement, either direct or indirect, for MreB in the restriction of certain polar material to defined sites within the cell and, in the absence of MreB, with the formation of ectopic sites containing polar material.
authors.affiliation: Bacterial Pathogenesis Laboratories, University Park, 65 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Trine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nilsen
authors.forename: Arthur W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gale
authors.forename: Marcia B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001665:Binding Sites; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010957:Plasmids; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C058483:virG protein, Shigella flexneri; C078473:MreB protein, E coli