title: Cell division resets polarity and motility for the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus.
abstract: Links between cell division and other cellular processes are poorly understood. It is difficult to simultaneously examine division and function in most cell types. Most of the research probing aspects of cell division has experimented with stationary or immobilized cells or distinctly asymmetrical cells. Here we took an alternative approach by examining cell division events within motile groups of cells growing on solid medium by time-lapse microscopy. A total of 558 cell divisions were identified among approximately 12,000 cells. We found an interconnection of division, motility, and polarity in the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. For every division event, motile cells stop moving to divide. Progeny cells of binary fission subsequently move in opposing directions. This behavior involves M. xanthus Frz proteins that regulate M. xanthus motility reversals but is independent of type IV pilus "S motility." The inheritance of opposing polarity is correlated with the distribution of the G protein RomR within these dividing cells. The constriction at the point of division limits the intracellular distribution of RomR. Thus, the asymmetric distribution of RomR at the parent cell poles becomes mirrored at new poles initiated at the site of division.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Cameron W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Chinedu S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Madukoma
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Shant
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahserejian
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Alber
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA joshua.shrout@nd.edu.
authors.forename: Joshua D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Shrout
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology*; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement; D016941:Myxococcus xanthus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins