What is it about?
Deinococcus radiodurans is a remarkable bacterium capable of withstanding very high doses of radiation. In this work, we used a combination of cutting-edge microscopy techniques to explore how this spherical bacterium divides. Bacteria normally divide by synthesising a new cell wall across the cell, known as septum or cross-wall. This septum typically originates from all around the mother cell and closes like an iris. Our work reveals that D. radiodurans divides in a very unusual way, using a 'sliding doors' mechanism, in which two unconnected cross-walls originating from opposite sides of the mother cell grow with a flat leading edge until they meet in the middle of the cell. This unusual division process requires specific adaptations and a tightly regulated division machinery. Why D. radiodurans uses such a distinctive mode of division remains nonetheless a mystery.
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Why is it important?
This is the first report of such a division mechanism in bacteria, but it is probably not unique. Bacterial cell division is an important target for antibacterial drugs. Understanding how bacteria divide is therefore crucial to finding new targets for drug development at a time when antibiotic resistance is becoming a major threat.
Perspectives
This study is largely descriptive, providing a detailed account of how D. radiodurans divides, the precise composition of its cell wall and several key players involved in this tightly regulated process. In the future, we will investigate the complex mechanisms underlying this unusual division process and how it contributes to the outstanding radiation resistance phenotype of this bacterium.
Joanna Timmins
Universite Grenoble Alpes
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Combining live fluorescence imaging with in situ cryoelectron tomography sheds light on the septation process in
Deinococcus radiodurans, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2425047122.
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