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Essential role of DivIVA in polar growth and morphogenesis in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)
Author(s) -
Flärdh Klas
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03660.x
Subject(s) - streptomyces coelicolor , biology , hypha , morphogenesis , peptidoglycan , microbiology and biotechnology , streptomyces , apical cell , cell wall , cell , botany , gene , genetics , bacteria
Summary Streptomycetes grow by cell wall extension at hyphal tips. The molecular basis for such polar growth in prokaryotes is largely unknown. It is reported here that DivIVA SC , the Streptomyces coelicolor homologue of the Bacillus subtilis protein DivIVA, is essential and directly involved in hyphal tip growth and morphogenesis. A DivIVA SC ‐EGFP hybrid was distinctively localized to hyphal tips and lateral branches. Reduction of divIVA SC expression to about 10% of the normal level produced a phenotype strikingly similar to that of many tip growth mutants in fungi, including irregular curly hyphae and apical branching. Overexpression of the gene dramatically perturbed determination of cell shape at the growing tips. Furthermore, staining of nascent peptidoglycan with a fluorescent vancomycin conjugate revealed that induction of overexpression in normal hyphae disturbed tip growth, and gave rise to several new sites of cell wall assembly, effectively causing hyperbranching. The results show that DivIVA SC is a novel bacterial morphogene, and it is localized at or very close to the apical sites of peptidoglycan assembly in Streptomyces hyphae.