MraZ is a transcriptional inhibitor of cell division in Bacillus subtilis
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ABSTRACT: To investigate the possible genes regulated by the DNA binding protein MraZ The bacterial division and cell wall (dcw) cluster is a highly conserved region of the genome which encodes several essential cell division factors including the central divisome protein FtsZ. Understanding the regulation of this region is key to our overall understanding of the division process. mraZ is found at the 5’ end of the dcw cluster and previous studies have described MraZ as a sequence-specific DNA binding protein. In this article, we investigate MraZ to elucidate its role in Bacillus subtilis. Through our investigation, we demonstrate that increased levels of MraZ result in lethal filamentation due to repression of its own operon (mraZ-mraW-ftsL-pbpB). We observe rescue of filamentation upon decoupling ftsL expression, but not other genes in the operon, from MraZ control. Our data suggests that regulation of the mra operon may be an alternative way for cells to quickly arrest cytokinesis potentially during entry into stationary phase and in the event of DNA replication arrest. Furthermore, through timelapse microscopy we were able to identify that overexpression of mraZ or depletion of FtsL results in de-condensation of the FtsZ ring (Z-ring). Using fluorescent D-amino acid labelling, we also observed that coordinated peptidoglycan insertion at division site is dysregulated in the absence of FtsL. Thus, we reveal the precise role of FtsL is in Z-ring maturation and focusing septal peptidoglycan synthesis.
ORGANISM(S): Bacillus subtilis PY79
PROVIDER: GSE206572 | GEO | 2022/06/24
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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