title: Spatial regulators for bacterial cell division self-organize into surface waves in vitro.
abstract: In the bacterium Escherichia coli, the Min proteins oscillate between the cell poles to select the cell center as division site. This dynamic pattern has been proposed to arise by self-organization of these proteins, and several models have suggested a reaction-diffusion type mechanism. Here, we found that the Min proteins spontaneously formed planar surface waves on a flat membrane in vitro. The formation and maintenance of these patterns, which extended for hundreds of micrometers, required adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), and they persisted for hours. We present a reaction-diffusion model of the MinD and MinE dynamics that accounts for our experimental observations and also captures the in vivo oscillations.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnologisches Zentrum der Technischen Universität Dresden, Tatzberg 47-51, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loose
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fischer-Friedrich
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ries
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kruse
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schwille
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000502:physiology*; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000502:physiology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology*; D002474:Cell-Free System; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004058:Diffusion; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009991:Oscillometry
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C071525:FtsZ protein, Bacteria; C093548:MinE protein, E coli; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; C072069:MinD protein, E coli