What is it about?
In the absence of FtsZ, E. coli forms non-dividing filaments that are barely able to survive because their physiology is modified extensively. Our results suggest a role for FtsZ, in addition to its already known effect in the constriction of E. coli, in protecting the nondividing cells against minor stress. This protection can even be exerted when an inactive FtsZ is produced, but it is lost when the protein is altogether absent.
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Why is it important?
These results have implications in fields like Synthetic Biology or antimicrobial discovery. The construction of synthetic divisomes in the test tube should preserve activities, as this newly found FtsZ property, to guarantee the stability of the artificial containers. Whereas the effects on viability caused by inhibiting the activity of FtsZ may be partly overcome by filamentation, the absence of FtsZ is not tolerated by E. coli, an observation that may help to design effective antimicrobial compounds.
Perspectives
Cell division is modulated by the result of a complex network of physiological events and by the interactions of a variety of divisome components. After the completion of growth and chromosome replication, the production of a functional divisome needs the assembly of a number of elements, as FtsZ, and a steady supply of energy. Surprisingly, the lack of FtsZ causes an unsuspected number of events that in their turn deeply modify the physiology of the non dividing cell compromising its resiliency. The results warn on the use of simplistic models to construct efficient divisomes in the test tube and also provide new insights to use FtsZ as an inhibitable target to obtain new antimicrobials.
Prof. Miguel Vicente
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Life without Division: Physiology ofEscherichia coliFtsZ-Deprived Filaments, mBio, October 2016, ASM Journals,
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01620-16.
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