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Cell wall growth during elongation and division: one ring to bind them?
Author(s) -
Scheffers DirkJan
Publication year - 2007
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.1365-2958.2007.05731.x
Subject(s) - ftsz , caulobacter crescentus , peptidoglycan , cell division , biology , elongation , microbiology and biotechnology , bacterial cell structure , protein biosynthesis , cytoskeleton , escherichia coli , cell , cell wall , bacteria , biochemistry , cell cycle , genetics , gene , materials science , ultimate tensile strength , metallurgy
Summary The role of the cell division protein FtsZ in bacterial cell wall (CW) synthesis is believed to be restricted to localizing proteins involved in the synthesis of the septal wall. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, the groups of Christine Jacobs‐Wagner and Waldemar Vollmer provide compelling evidence that in Caulobacter crescentus , FtsZ plays an additional role in CW synthesis in non‐dividing cells. During elongation (cell growth) FtsZ is responsible for the incorporation of CW material in a zone at the midcell by recruiting MurG, a protein involved in peptidoglycan (PG) precursor synthesis. This resembles earlier findings of FtsZ mediated PG synthesis activity in Escherichia coli . A role of FtsZ in PG synthesis during elongation forces a rethink of the current model of CW synthesis in rod‐shaped bacteria.