SCAN:The bacterial cytoskeleton and the control of cell shape and cell division

SCAN Seminar- ITQB

Title: The bacterial cytoskeleton and the control of cell shape and cell division

Speaker: Teresa Parente Costa

From: Microbial Development Laboratory

Abstract: 

Proper control of cell replication is vital to all organisms and must be precisely controlled in space and time. Cell growth of rod-shaped bacteria occurs by successive cycles of cell elongation, chromosome segregation and cell division at a medial positioning to produce equal progeny cells. The cytoskeleton plays important roles in all these fundamental biological processes but how they are coordinated is not yet very well understood. A new highly conserved protein is associated with the actin-like cytoskeleton and required for cell elongation in rod-shaped bacteria. Importantly, we have now shown that in Bacillus subtilis, this new component is also necessary for accurate control of cell division by inhibiting septum formation near the old cell pole and that it also promotes anchoring of the chromosomes at the cell quarters. In its absence, exponentially growing cells of B. subtilis divide asymmetrically and the chromosome is extended to the cell poles resulting in the production of viable polar minicells containing a full copy of the genome. All together our results suggest that this new cytoskeleton-associated morphogenetic protein helps coordinating cell division and chromosome segregation with cell growth so that cell morphology is maintained.