TY - JOUR
T1 - Agrobacterium tumefaciens divisome proteins regulate the transition from polar growth to cell division
AU - Howell, Matthew
AU - Aliashkevich, Alena
AU - Sundararajan, Kousik
AU - Daniel, Jeremy J.
AU - Lariviere, Patrick J.
AU - Goley, Erin D.
AU - Cava, Felipe
AU - Brown, Pamela J.B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Yves Brun from providing plasmids, Joe Lutkenhaus for providing Escherichia coli anti-FtsZ serum, and members of the Brown lab for helpful discussions and critical reading of this manuscript. PB and MH were supported by the National Science Foundation, IOS1557806. This work was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health through R01GM108640 (EDG) and T32GM007445 (training support of PJL). FC and AA receive funding support from Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Kempe and the Swedish Research Council. AA is supported by a MIMS/VR PhD position.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - The mechanisms that restrict peptidoglycan biosynthesis to the pole during elongation and re-direct peptidoglycan biosynthesis to mid-cell during cell division in polar-growing Alphaproteobacteria are largely unknown. Here, we explore the role of early division proteins of Agrobacterium tumefaciens including three FtsZ homologs, FtsA and FtsW in the transition from polar growth to mid-cell growth and ultimately cell division. Although two of the three FtsZ homologs localize to mid-cell, exhibit GTPase activity and form co-polymers, only one, FtsZ AT , is required for cell division. We find that FtsZ AT is required not only for constriction and cell separation, but also for initiation of peptidoglycan synthesis at mid-cell and cessation of polar peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Depletion of FtsZ AT in A. tumefaciens causes a striking phenotype: cells are extensively branched and accumulate growth active poles through tip splitting events. When cell division is blocked at a later stage by depletion of FtsA or FtsW, polar growth is terminated and ectopic growth poles emerge from mid-cell. Overall, this work suggests that A. tumefaciens FtsZ makes distinct contributions to the regulation of polar growth and cell division.
AB - The mechanisms that restrict peptidoglycan biosynthesis to the pole during elongation and re-direct peptidoglycan biosynthesis to mid-cell during cell division in polar-growing Alphaproteobacteria are largely unknown. Here, we explore the role of early division proteins of Agrobacterium tumefaciens including three FtsZ homologs, FtsA and FtsW in the transition from polar growth to mid-cell growth and ultimately cell division. Although two of the three FtsZ homologs localize to mid-cell, exhibit GTPase activity and form co-polymers, only one, FtsZ AT , is required for cell division. We find that FtsZ AT is required not only for constriction and cell separation, but also for initiation of peptidoglycan synthesis at mid-cell and cessation of polar peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Depletion of FtsZ AT in A. tumefaciens causes a striking phenotype: cells are extensively branched and accumulate growth active poles through tip splitting events. When cell division is blocked at a later stage by depletion of FtsA or FtsW, polar growth is terminated and ectopic growth poles emerge from mid-cell. Overall, this work suggests that A. tumefaciens FtsZ makes distinct contributions to the regulation of polar growth and cell division.
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U2 - 10.1111/mmi.14212
DO - 10.1111/mmi.14212
M3 - Article
C2 - 30693575
AN - SCOPUS:85062504826
SN - 0950-382X
VL - 111
SP - 1074
EP - 1092
JO - Molecular Microbiology
JF - Molecular Microbiology
IS - 4
ER -