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Regulation of the expression of the cell‐cycle gene ftsZ by DicF antisense RNA. Division does not require a fixed number of FtsZ molecules
Author(s) -
Tétart Françoise,
Bouché JeanPierre
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.tb01508.x
Subject(s) - ftsz , biology , cell division , antisense rna , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , division (mathematics) , rna , cell cycle , gene expression , regulation of gene expression , genetics , cell , arithmetic , mathematics
Summary We show that the 53‐nucieotide RNA molecule encoded by gene dicF blocks cell division In Escherichia coli by inhibiting the translation of ftsZ mRNA. Such a role for dicF had been predicted on the basis of the complementarity of DicF RNA with the ribosome‐binding region of the ffsZ mRNA. An analysis of ftsZ expression at its chromosomal locus, and of an ftsZ–lacZ translational fusion controlled by promoters ftsZ1p and ftsZ2p only, indicates that ftsZ is not autoregulated. Partial inhibition of FtsZ synthesis leads to increased cell size. However, the number of FtsZ molecules per cell can be reduced threefold without affecting the division rate significantly. Our results suggest that septation is not triggered by a fixed number of newly synthesized FtsZ molecules per cell.