title: Identification and functional annotation of mycobacterial septum formation genes using cell division mutants of Escherichia coli.
abstract: The major virulence trait of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is its ability to enter a latent state in the face of robust host immunity. Clues to the molecular basis of latency can emerge from understanding the mechanism of cell division, beginning with identification of proteins involved in this process. Using complementation of Escherichia coli mutants, we functionally annotated M. tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis homologs of divisome proteins FtsW and AmiC. Our results demonstrate that E. coli can be used as a surrogate model to discover mycobacterial cell division genes, and should prove invaluable in delineating the mechanisms of this fundamental process in mycobacteria.
authors.affiliation: CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500007, India. Electronic address: sujatasharma8@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sujata S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gaiwala Sharma
authors.affiliation: CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500007, India. Electronic address: vimal@ccmb.res.in.
authors.forename: Vimal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kishore
authors.affiliation: CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500007, India. Electronic address: raghu@ccmb.res.in.
authors.forename: Tirumalai R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Raghunand
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test / Q000379:methods; D005827:Genetics, Microbial / Q000379:methods; D020102:Mycobacterium smegmatis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Complementation; Divisome assembly; Escherichia coli; Mycobacterium smegmatis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis