title: Origin of contractile force during cell division of bacteria.
abstract: When a bacterium divides, its cell wall at the division site grows radially inward like the shutter of a camera and guillotines the cell into two halves. The wall is pulled upon from inside by a polymeric ring, which itself shrinks in radius. The ring is made of an intracellular protein FtsZ (filamenting temperature sensitive Z) and thus is called the Z ring. It is not understood how the Z ring generates the required contractile force. We propose a theoretical model and simulate it to show how the natural curvature of the FtsZ filaments and lateral attraction among them may facilitate force generation.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Biplab
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Anirban
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sain
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate / Q000502:physiology; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; C071525:FtsZ protein, Bacteria; D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate