Dynamic instability-driven centering/segregating mechanism in bacteria.

ABSTRACT: All cells require the ability to process spatial information to properly position intracellular molecules. Many protein complexes and DNA molecules are actively positioned either at the cell midpoint or cell poles, but the processes which drive intracellular positioning are still poorly understood. Using computational modeling we propose a bimodal centering/segregation mechanism in bacteria which is driven by the dynamic instability of polymerizing filaments, which grow and shrink with regularity. Modeled cell centering via dynamically unstable filaments is confirmed experimentally via in vivo time-lapse, colocalization measurements of a model system of clustered plasmid-DNA centered by the dynamically unstable actin-like protein filaments Alp7A in Bacillus subtilis. Generalizing to any cy

SUBMITTER: Drew KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3131362 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature