Role of peptidoglycan amidases in the development and morphology of the division septum in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Escherichia coli contains multiple peptidoglycan-specific hydrolases, but their physiological purposes are poorly understood. Several mutants lacking combinations of hydrolases grow as chains of unseparated cells, indicating that these enzymes help cleave the septum to separate daughter cells after cell division. Here, we confirm previous observations that in the absence of two or more amidases, thickened and dark bands, which we term septal peptidoglycan (SP) rings, appear at division sites in isolated sacculi. The formation of SP rings depends on active cell division, and they apparently represent a cell division structure that accumulates because septal synthesis and hydrolysis are uncoupled. Even though septal constriction was incomplete, SP rings exhibited two properties of mature cel

SUBMITTER: Priyadarshini R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1951850 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature