Evidence for biomolecular condensates formed by the Escherichia coli MatP protein in spatiotemporal regulation of the bacterial cell division cycle.

ABSTRACT: An increasing number of proteins involved in bacterial cell cycle events have been recently shown to form biomolecular condensates important for their functions that may play a role in development of antibiotic-tolerant persister cells. Here we report that the E. coli chromosomal Ter macrodomain organizer MatP, a division site selection protein coordinating chromosome segregation with cell division, formed biomolecular condensates in crowding cytomimetic systems preferentially localized at the membrane of microfluidics droplets. Condensates were antagonized and partially dislodged from the membrane by DNA sequences recognized by MatP (matS), which partitioned into them. FtsZ, a core component of the division machinery previously described to phase-separate, unexpectedly enhanced MatP conde

SUBMITTER: Barros-Medina I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12756933 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature