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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2017-08

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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.

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10.1002/bies.201700045

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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.

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Scholars@Duke

Erickson

Harold Paul Erickson

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Cell Biology

Recent research has been on cytoskeleton (eukaryotes and bacteria); a skirmish to debunk the irisin story; a reinterpretation of proposed multivalent binders of the coronavirus spike protein. I have also published an ebook on "Principles of Protein-Protein Association" suitable for a course module or individual learning.


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