Fluorescence bleaching reveals asymmetric compartment formation prior to cell division in Caulobacter.

ABSTRACT: Asymmetric cell division in Caulobacter crescentus yields daughter cells that have different cell fates. Compartmentalization of the predivisional cell is a critical event in the establishment of the differential distribution of regulatory factors that specify cell fate. To determine when during the cell cycle the cytoplasm is compartmentalized so that cytoplasmic proteins can no longer diffuse between the two nascent progeny cell compartments, we designed a fluorescence loss in photobleaching assay. Individual cells containing enhanced GFP were exposed to a bleaching laser pulse tightly focused at one cell pole. In compartmentalized cells, fluorescence disappears only in the compartment receiving the bleaching beam; in noncompartmentalized cells, fluorescence disappears from the entire ce

SUBMITTER: Judd EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC166212 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature