title: Treadmilling by FtsZ filaments drives peptidoglycan synthesis and bacterial cell division.
abstract: The mechanism by which bacteria divide is not well understood. Cell division is mediated by filaments of FtsZ and FtsA (FtsAZ) that recruit septal peptidoglycan-synthesizing enzymes to the division site. To understand how these components coordinate to divide cells, we visualized their movements relative to the dynamics of cell wall synthesis during cytokinesis. We found that the division septum was built at discrete sites that moved around the division plane. FtsAZ filaments treadmilled circumferentially around the division ring and drove the motions of the peptidoglycan-synthesizing enzymes. The FtsZ treadmilling rate controlled both the rate of peptidoglycan synthesis and cell division. Thus, FtsZ treadmilling guides the progressive insertion of new cell wall by building increasingly smaller concentric rings of peptidoglycan to divide the cell.
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Alexandre W
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5940-7230
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Bisson-Filho
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Yen-Pang
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7706-9482
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Georgia R
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8717-2897
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Squyres
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Erkin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2356-0858
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kuru
authors.affiliation: Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Fabai
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5812-5621
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK.
authors.forename: Calum
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0632-0913
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jukes
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Yingjie
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1309-753X
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. egarner@g.harvard.edu mvannieu@indiana.edu ybrun@indiana.edu seamus.holden@newcastle.ac.uk c.dekker@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Cees
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6273-071X
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dekker
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK. egarner@g.harvard.edu mvannieu@indiana.edu ybrun@indiana.edu seamus.holden@newcastle.ac.uk c.dekker@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Seamus
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7169-907X
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holden
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. egarner@g.harvard.edu mvannieu@indiana.edu ybrun@indiana.edu seamus.holden@newcastle.ac.uk c.dekker@tudelft.nl.|Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6093-5949
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: VanNieuwenhze
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. egarner@g.harvard.edu mvannieu@indiana.edu ybrun@indiana.edu seamus.holden@newcastle.ac.uk c.dekker@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Yves V
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9289-1909
authors.initials: YV
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. egarner@g.harvard.edu mvannieu@indiana.edu ybrun@indiana.edu seamus.holden@newcastle.ac.uk c.dekker@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Ethan C
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0141-3555
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Garner
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002455:Cell Division; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D048749:Cytokinesis; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; C065103:FtsA protein, Bacteria; C071525:FtsZ protein, Bacteria; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins; D010457:Peptidoglycan