Bistable forespore engulfment in Bacillus subtilis by a zipper mechanism in absence of the cell wall.

ABSTRACT: To survive starvation, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis forms durable spores. The initial step of sporulation is asymmetric cell division, leading to a large mother-cell and a small forespore compartment. After division is completed and the dividing septum is thinned, the mother cell engulfs the forespore in a slow process based on cell-wall degradation and synthesis. However, recently a new cell-wall independent mechanism was shown to significantly contribute, which can even lead to fast engulfment in [Formula: see text] 60 [Formula: see text] of the cases when the cell wall is completely removed. In this backup mechanism, strong ligand-receptor binding between mother-cell protein SpoIIIAH and forespore-protein SpoIIQ leads to zipper-like engulfment, but quantitative understanding is missi

SUBMITTER: Ojkic N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4214620 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature