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Positioning the flagellum at the center of a dividing cell to combine bacterial division with magnetic polarity.

ABSTRACT:

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Faithful replication of all structural features is a sine qua non condition for the success of bacterial reproduction by binary fission. For some species, a key challenge is to replicate and organize structures with multiple polarities. Polarly flagellated magnetotactic bacteria are the prime example of organisms dealing with such a dichotomy; they have the challenge of bequeathing two types of polarities to their daughter cells: magnetic and flagellar polarities. Indeed, these microorganisms align and move in the Earth's magnetic field using an intracellular chain of nano-magnets that imparts a magnetic dipole to the cell. The paradox is that, after division occurs in cells, if the new flagellum is positioned opposite to the old pole devoid of a flagellum during cell division, the two daughter cells will have opposite magnetic polarities with respect to the positions of their flagella. Here we show that magnetotactic bacteria of the class Gammaproteobacteria pragmatically solve this problem by synthesizing a new flagellum at the division site. In addition, we model this particular structural inheritance during cell division. This finding opens up new questions regarding the molecular aspects of the new division mechanism, the way other polarly flagellated magnetotactic bacteria control the rotational direction of their flagella, and the positioning of organelles.

Importance

Magnetotactic bacteria produce chains of magnetic nanoparticles that endow the cells with a magnetic dipole, a "compass" used for navigation. This feature, however, also drastically complicates cellular division in the case of polarly flagellated bacteria. In this case, the bacteria have to pass on to their daughter cells two types of cellular polarities simultaneously, their magnetic polarity and the polarity of their motility apparatus. We show here that magnetotactic bacteria of the Gammaproteobacteria class pragmatically solve this problem by synthesizing the new flagellum at the division site, a division scheme never observed so far in bacteria. Even though the molecular mechanisms behind this scheme cannot be resolved at the moment due to the lack of genetic tools, this discovery provides a new window into the organizational complexity of simple organisms.

SUBMITTER: Lefevre CT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4358019 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Positioning the flagellum at the center of a dividing cell to combine bacterial division with magnetic polarity.

Lefèvre Christopher T CT Bennet Mathieu M Klumpp Stefan S Faivre Damien D

mBio 20150224 2

<h4>Unlabelled</h4>Faithful replication of all structural features is a sine qua non condition for the success of bacterial reproduction by binary fission. For some species, a key challenge is to replicate and organize structures with multiple polarities. Polarly flagellated magnetotactic bacteria are the prime example of organisms dealing with such a dichotomy; they have the challenge of bequeathing two types of polarities to their daughter cells: magnetic and flagellar polarities. Indeed, thes ...[more]

PMID: 25714711

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Project description:Cell division in most prokaryotes is mediated by the well-studied fts genes, with FtsZ as the principal player. In many archaeal species, however, division is orchestrated differently. The Crenarchaeota phylum of archaea features the action of the three proteins, CdvABC. This Cdv system is a unique and less-well-studied division mechanism that merits closer inspection. In vivo, the three Cdv proteins form a composite band that contracts concomitantly with the septum formation. Of the three Cdv proteins, CdvA is the first to be recruited to the division site, while CdvB and CdvC are thought to participate in the active part of the Cdv division machinery. Interestingly, CdvB shares homology with a family of proteins from the eukaryotic ESCRT-III complex, and CdvC is a homolog of the eukaryotic Vps4 complex. These two eukaryotic complexes are key factors in the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) pathway, which is responsible for various budding processes in eukaryotic cells and which participates in the final stages of division in Metazoa. There, ESCRT-III forms a contractile machinery that actively cuts the membrane, whereas Vps4, which is an ATPase, is necessary for the turnover of the ESCRT membrane-abscission polymers. In contrast to CdvB and CdvC, CdvA is unique to the archaeal Crenarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota phyla. The Crenarchaeota division mechanism has often been suggested to represent a simplified version of the ESCRT division machinery thus providing a model system to study the evolution and mechanism of cell division in higher organisms. However, there are still many open questions regarding this parallelism and the division mechanism of Crenarchaeota. Here, we review the existing data on the role of the Cdv proteins in the division process of Crenarchaeota as well as concisely review the ESCRT system in eukaryotes. We survey the similarities and differences between the division and abscission mechanisms in the two cases. We suggest that the Cdv system functions differently in archaea than ESCRT does in eukaryotes, and that, unlike the eukaryotic case, the Cdv system's main function may be related to surplus membrane invagination and cell-wall synthesis.

Dataset Information

Positioning the flagellum at the center of a dividing cell to combine bacterial division with magnetic polarity.

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Importance

Publications

Positioning the flagellum at the center of a dividing cell to combine bacterial division with magnetic polarity.

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