title: General principles for the formation and proliferation of a wall-free (L-form) state in bacteria.
abstract: The peptidoglycan cell wall is a defining structural feature of the bacterial kingdom. Curiously, some bacteria have the ability to switch to a wall-free or 'L-form' state. Although known for decades, the general properties of L-forms are poorly understood, largely due to the lack of systematic analysis of L-forms in the molecular biology era. Here we show that inhibition of peptidoglycan precursor synthesis promotes the generation of L-forms from both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We show that the L-forms generated have in common a mechanism of proliferation involving membrane blebbing and tubulation, which is dependent on an altered rate of membrane synthesis. Crucially, this mode of proliferation is independent of the essential FtsZ based division machinery. Our results suggest that the L-form mode of proliferation is conserved across the bacterial kingdom, reinforcing the idea that it could have been used in primitive cells, and opening up its use in the generation of synthetic cells.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mercier
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Errington
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development; D002455:Cell Division; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism*; D048230:Corynebacterium glutamicum / Q000166:cytology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007740:L Forms / Q000166:cytology*; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000378:metabolism; D059008:Time-Lapse Imaging
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D010457:Peptidoglycan
keywords: B. subtilis; C. glutamicum; L-forms; S; aureus; cell biology; cell division; cell wall-free bacteria; coli; e; infectious disease; microbiology