Dataset Information

Control of septum thickness by the curvature of SepF polymers.

ABSTRACT: Gram-positive bacteria divide by forming a thick cross wall. How the thickness of this septal wall is controlled is unknown. In this type of bacteria, the key cell division protein FtsZ is anchored to the cell membrane by two proteins, FtsA and/or SepF. We have isolated SepF homologs from different bacterial species and found that they all polymerize into large protein rings with diameters varying from 19 to 44 nm. Interestingly, these values correlated well with the thickness of their septa. To test whether ring diameter determines septal thickness, we tried to construct different SepF chimeras with the purpose to manipulate the diameter of the SepF protein ring. This was indeed possible and confirmed that the conserved core domain of SepF regulates ring diameter. Importantly, when SepF chimeras with different diameters were expressed in the bacterial host Bacillus subtilis, the thickness of its septa changed accordingly. These results strongly support a model in which septal thickness is controlled by curved molecular clamps formed by SepF polymers attached to the leading edge of nascent septa. This also implies that the intrinsic shape of a protein polymer can function as a mold to shape the cell wall.

SUBMITTER: Wenzel M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7812789 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Control of septum thickness by the curvature of SepF polymers.

Wenzel Michaela M Celik Gulsoy Ilkay N IN Gao Yongqiang Y Teng Zihao Z Willemse Joost J Middelkamp Martijn M van Rosmalen Mariska G M MGM Larsen Per W B PWB van der Wel Nicole N NN Wuite Gijs J L GJL Roos Wouter H WH Hamoen Leendert W LW

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20210101 2

Gram-positive bacteria divide by forming a thick cross wall. How the thickness of this septal wall is controlled is unknown. In this type of bacteria, the key cell division protein FtsZ is anchored to the cell membrane by two proteins, FtsA and/or SepF. We have isolated SepF homologs from different bacterial species and found that they all polymerize into large protein rings with diameters varying from 19 to 44 nm. Interestingly, these values correlated well with the thickness of their septa. To ...[more]

PMID: 33443155

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Project description:Humans are known to have significant and consistent differences in thickness throughout the cortex, with thick outer gyral folds and thin inner sulcal folds. Our previous work has suggested a mechanical basis for this thickness pattern, with the forces generated during cortical folding leading to thick gyri and thin sulci, and shown that cortical thickness varies along a gyral-sulcal spectrum in humans. While other primate species are expected to exhibit similar patterns of cortical thickness, it is currently unknown how these patterns scale across different sizes, forms, and foldedness. Among primates, brains vary enormously from roughly the size of a grape to the size of a grapefruit, and from nearly smooth to dramatically folded; of these, human brains are the largest and most folded. These variations in size and form make comparative neuroanatomy a rich resource for investigating common trends that transcend differences between species. In this study, we examine 12 primate species in order to cover a wide range of sizes and forms, and investigate the scaling of their cortical thickness relative to the surface geometry. The 12 species were selected due to the public availability of either reconstructed surfaces and/or population templates. After obtaining or reconstructing 3D surfaces from publicly available neuroimaging data, we used our surface-based computational pipeline (https://github.com/mholla/curveball) to analyze patterns of cortical thickness and folding with respect to size (total surface area), geometry (i.e. curvature, shape, and sulcal depth), and foldedness (gyrification). In all 12 species, we found consistent cortical thickness variations along a gyral-sulcal spectrum, with convex shapes thicker than concave shapes and saddle shapes in between. Furthermore, we saw an increasing thickness difference between gyri and sulci as brain size increases. Our results suggest a systematic folding mechanism relating local cortical thickness to geometry. Finally, all of our reconstructed surfaces and morphometry data are available for future research in comparative neuroanatomy.

Dataset Information

Control of septum thickness by the curvature of SepF polymers.

Publications

Control of septum thickness by the curvature of SepF polymers.

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