title: Expression of Escherichia coli Min system in Bacillus subtilis and its effect on cell division.
abstract: In both rod-shaped Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli cells, Min proteins are involved in the regulation of division septa formation. In E. coli, dynamic oscillation of MinCD inhibitory complex and MinE, a topological specificity protein, prevents improper polar septation. However, in B. subtilis no MinE is present and no oscillation of Min proteins can be observed. The function of MinE is substituted by that of an unrelated DivIVA protein, which targets MinCD to division sites and retains them at the cell poles. We inspected cell division when the E. coli Min system was introduced into B. subtilis cells. Expression of these heterologous Min proteins resulted in cell elongation. We demonstrate here that E. coli MinD can partially substitute for the function of its B. subtilis protein counterpart. Moreover, E. coli MinD was observed to have similar helical localization as B. subtilis MinD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Genetics, Institute of Molecular Biology, Slovak Academy of Science, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Nad'a
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pavlendová
authors.forename: Katarína
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muchová
authors.forename: Imrich
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barák
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002455:Cell Division; D016764:Cell Polarity; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C104636:DivIVA protein, bacteria; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C462942:MinC protein, E coli; C093548:MinE protein, E coli; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; C072069:MinD protein, E coli