Escherichia coli low-molecular-weight penicillin-binding proteins help orient septal FtsZ, and their absence leads to asymmetric cell division and branching.

ABSTRACT: Escherichia coli cells lacking low-molecular-weight penicillin-binding proteins (LMW PBPs) exhibit morphological alterations that also appear when the septal protein FtsZ is mislocalized, suggesting that peptidoglycan modification and division may work together to produce cell shape. We found that in strains lacking PBP5 and other LMW PBPs, higher FtsZ concentrations increased the frequency of branched cells and incorrectly oriented Z rings by 10- to 15-fold. Invagination of these rings produced improperly oriented septa, which in turn gave rise to asymmetric cell poles that eventually elongated into branches. Branches always originated from the remnants of abnormal septation events, cementing the relationship between aberrant cell division and branch formation. In the absence of PBP5, PBP

SUBMITTER: Potluri LP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3323748 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature