The wall-less bacterium Spiroplasma poulsonii builds a polymeric cytoskeleton composed of interacting MreB isoforms.

ABSTRACT: A rigid cell wall defines the morphology of most bacteria. MreB, a bacterial homologue of actin, plays a major role in coordinating cell wall biogenesis and defining cell shape. Spiroplasma are wall-less bacteria that robustly grow with a characteristic helical shape. Paradoxal to their lack of cell wall, the Spiroplasma genome contains five homologs of MreB (SpMreBs). Here, we investigate the function of SpMreBs in forming a polymeric cytoskeleton. We found that, in vivo, Spiroplasma maintain a high concentration of all MreB isoforms. By leveraging a heterologous expression system that bypasses the poor genetic tractability of Spiroplasma, we found that SpMreBs produced polymeric filaments of various morphologies. We characterized an interaction network

SUBMITTER: Masson F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8634037 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature