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Cell division in Escherichia coli minB mutants
Author(s) -
Akerlund Thomas,
Bernander Rolf,
Nordström Kurt
Publication year - 1992
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb01380.x
Subject(s) - nucleoid , cell division , biology , mutant , cell cycle , escherichia coli , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , limiting , genetics , gene , mechanical engineering , engineering
Summary In Escherichia coli minB mutants, cell division can take place at the cell poles as well as non‐polarly in the cell. We have examined growth, division patterns, and nucleoid distribution in individual cells of a minC point mutant and a minB deletion mutant, and compared them to the corresponding wild‐type strain and an intR1 strain in which the chromosome is overreplicated. The main findings were as follows. In the minB mutants, polar and non‐polar divisions appeared to occur independently of each other. Furthermore, the timing of cell division in the cell cycle was found to be severely affected. In addition, nucleoid conformation and distribution were considerably disturbed. The results obtained call for a re‐evaluation of the role of the MinB system in the E coli cell cycle, and of the concept that limiting quanta of cell division factors are regularly produced during the cell cycle.