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How bacterial cell division might cheat turgor pressure - a unified mechanism of septal division in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

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Date
2017-08
Author
Erickson, Harold P
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Abstract
An important question for bacterial cell division is how the invaginating septum can overcome the turgor force generated by the high osmolarity of the cytoplasm. I suggest that it may not need to. Several studies in Gram-negative bacteria have shown that the periplasm is isoosmolar with the cytoplasm. Indirect evidence suggests that this is also true for Gram-positive bacteria. In this case the invagination of the septum takes place within the uniformly high osmotic pressure environment, and does not have to fight turgor pressure. A related question is how the V-shaped constriction of Gram-negative bacteria relates to the plate-like septum of Gram-positive bacteria. I collected evidence that Gram-negative bacteria have a latent capability of forming plate-like septa, and present a model in which septal division is the basic mechanism in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.
Type
Journal article
Subject
FtsZ
bacteria
cell division
cytokinesis
peptidoglycan
tubulin
turgor
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16448
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1002/bies.201700045
Publication Info
Erickson, Harold P (2017). How bacterial cell division might cheat turgor pressure - a unified mechanism of septal division in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 39(8). 10.1002/bies.201700045. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16448.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Scholars@Duke

Erickson

Harold Paul Erickson

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology
Cytoskeleton: It is now clear that the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton originated in bacteria. Our major research is on FtsZ, the bacterial tubulin homolog, which assembles into a contractile ring that divides the bacterium. We have studied FtsZ assembly in vitro, and found that it assembles into thin protofilaments (pfs). Dozens of these pfs are further clustered to form the contractile Z-ring in vivo. Some important discoveries in the last ten years include: &bul
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