title: How sisters grow apart: mycobacterial growth and division.
abstract: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is the aetiological agent of tuberculosis, owes much of its success as a pathogen to its unique cell wall and unusual mechanism of growth, which facilitate its adaptation to the human host and could have a role in clinical latency. Asymmetric growth and division increase population heterogeneity, which may promote antibiotic tolerance and the fitness of single cells. In this Review, we describe the unusual mechanisms of mycobacterial growth, cell wall biogenesis and division, and discuss how these processes might affect the survival of M. tuberculosis in vivo and contribute to the persistence of infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kieser
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. [2] Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Rubin
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D010457:Peptidoglycan