Studying biomolecule localization by engineering bacterial cell wall curvature.

ABSTRACT: In this article we describe two techniques for exploring the relationship between bacterial cell shape and the intracellular organization of proteins. First, we created microchannels in a layer of agarose to reshape live bacterial cells and predictably control their mean cell wall curvature, and quantified the influence of curvature on the localization and distribution of proteins in vivo. Second, we used agarose microchambers to reshape bacteria whose cell wall had been chemically and enzymatically removed. By combining microstructures with different geometries and fluorescence microscopy, we determined the relationship between bacterial shape and the localization for two different membrane-associated proteins: i) the cell-shape related protein MreB of Escherichia coli, which is positione

SUBMITTER: Renner LD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3877235 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature