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Treadmilling by FtsZ filaments drives peptidoglycan synthesis and bacterial cell division.

ABSTRACT: The mechanism by which bacteria divide is not well understood. Cell division is mediated by filaments of FtsZ and FtsA (FtsAZ) that recruit septal peptidoglycan-synthesizing enzymes to the division site. To understand how these components coordinate to divide cells, we visualized their movements relative to the dynamics of cell wall synthesis during cytokinesis. We found that the division septum was built at discrete sites that moved around the division plane. FtsAZ filaments treadmilled circumferentially around the division ring and drove the motions of the peptidoglycan-synthesizing enzymes. The FtsZ treadmilling rate controlled both the rate of peptidoglycan synthesis and cell division. Thus, FtsZ treadmilling guides the progressive insertion of new cell wall by building increasingly smaller concentric rings of peptidoglycan to divide the cell.

SUBMITTER: Bisson-Filho AW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5485650 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Treadmilling by FtsZ filaments drives peptidoglycan synthesis and bacterial cell division.

Bisson-Filho Alexandre W AW Hsu Yen-Pang YP Squyres Georgia R GR Kuru Erkin E Wu Fabai F Jukes Calum C Sun Yingjie Y Dekker Cees C Holden Seamus S VanNieuwenhze Michael S MS Brun Yves V YV Garner Ethan C EC

Science (New York, N.Y.) 20170201 6326

The mechanism by which bacteria divide is not well understood. Cell division is mediated by filaments of FtsZ and FtsA (FtsAZ) that recruit septal peptidoglycan-synthesizing enzymes to the division site. To understand how these components coordinate to divide cells, we visualized their movements relative to the dynamics of cell wall synthesis during cytokinesis. We found that the division septum was built at discrete sites that moved around the division plane. FtsAZ filaments treadmilled circumf ...[more]

PMID: 28209898

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Project description:Peptidoglycan is the main component of the bacterial wall and protects cells from the mechanical stress that results from high intracellular turgor. Peptidoglycan biosynthesis is very similar in all bacteria; bacterial shapes are therefore mainly determined by the spatial and temporal regulation of peptidoglycan synthesis rather than by the chemical composition of peptidoglycan. The form of rod-shaped bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis or Escherichia coli, is generated by the action of two peptidoglycan synthesis machineries that act at the septum and at the lateral wall in processes coordinated by the cytoskeletal proteins FtsZ and MreB, respectively. The tubulin homologue FtsZ is the first protein recruited to the division site, where it assembles in filaments-forming the Z ring-that undergo treadmilling and recruit later divisome proteins. The rate of treadmilling in B. subtilis controls the rates of both peptidoglycan synthesis and cell division. The actin homologue MreB forms discrete patches that move circumferentially around the cell in tracks perpendicular to the long axis of the cell, and organize the insertion of new cell wall during elongation. Cocci such as Staphylococcus aureus possess only one type of peptidoglycan synthesis machinery, which is diverted from the cell periphery to the septum in preparation for division. The molecular cue that coordinates this transition has remained elusive. Here we investigate the localization of S. aureus peptidoglycan biosynthesis proteins and show that the recruitment of the putative lipid II flippase MurJ to the septum, by the DivIB-DivIC-FtsL complex, drives peptidoglycan incorporation to the midcell. MurJ recruitment corresponds to a turning point in cytokinesis, which is slow and dependent on FtsZ treadmilling before MurJ arrival but becomes faster and independent of FtsZ treadmilling after peptidoglycan synthesis activity is directed to the septum, where it provides additional force for cell envelope constriction.

Dataset Information

Treadmilling by FtsZ filaments drives peptidoglycan synthesis and bacterial cell division.

Publications

Treadmilling by FtsZ filaments drives peptidoglycan synthesis and bacterial cell division.

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