scholarly journals Cell cycle-dependent regulation of FtsZ in Escherichia coli in slow growth conditions

2018 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 1030-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaana Männik ◽  
Bryant E. Walker ◽  
Jaan Männik
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaana Männik ◽  
Bryant E. Walker ◽  
Jaan Männik

AbstractA key regulator of cell division in most walled bacteria is the FtsZ protein that assembles into protofilaments attached to the membrane at midcell. These dynamic protofilament assemblies, known as the Z-ring, act as a scaffold for more than two dozen proteins involved in synthesis of septal cell envelopes. What triggers the formation of the Z-ring during the cell cycle is poorly understood. InEscherichia colimodel organism, the common view is that FtsZ concentration is constant throughout its doubling time and therefore regulation of assembly should be controlled by some yet to be identified protein-protein interactions. Here we show using quantitative analysis of newly developed fluorescent reporter that FtsZ concentration varies in a cell-cycle dependent manner in slow growth conditions and that upregulation of FtsZ synthesis correlates with the formation of the Z-ring. About 4-fold upregulation of FtsZ synthesis in the first half of the cell cycle is followed by its rapid degradation by ClpXP protease in the last 10% of the cell cycle. The initiation of rapid degradation coincides with dissociation of FtsZ from the septum. Altogether, our data indicate that the Z-ring formation in slow growth conditions inE. coliis controlled by a regulatory sequence where upregulation of an essential cell cycle factor is followed by its degradation.SignificanceFtsZ is the key regulator for bacterial cell division. It initiates division by forming a dynamic ring-like structure, the Z-ring, at the mid-cell. Here we show that, contrarily to the current paradigm, FtsZ concentration inEscherichia colimodel organism varies throughout cell cycle in slow growth conditions. Faster FtsZ synthesis in the first half of the cell cycle is followed by its rapid degradation by ClpXP protease in the end of the cell cycle. Upregulation of FtsZ synthesis correlates with the formation of the Z-ring. Our data demonstrates that in slow growthE. colicell division progresses according to paradigm where upregulation of essential cell cycle factor is followed by its degradation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sriram Tiruvadi-Krishnan ◽  
Jaana Männik ◽  
Prathitha Kar ◽  
Jie Lin ◽  
Ariel Amir ◽  
...  

SummaryHow replication and division processes are coordinated in the cell cycle is a fundamental yet poorly understood question in cell biology. In Escherichia coli different data sets and models have supported a range of conclusions from one extreme where these two processes are tightly linked to another extreme where these processes are completely independent of each other. Using high throughput optical microscopy and cell cycle modeling, we show that in slow growth conditions replication and division processes are strongly correlated, indicating a significant coupling between replication and division. This coupling weakens as the growth rate of cells increases. Our data suggest that the underlying control mechanism in slow growth conditions is related to unreplicated chromosome blocking the onset of constriction at the midcell. We show that the nucleoid occlusion protein SlmA does not play a role in this process and neither do other known factors involved in positioning bacterial Z-ring relative to the chromosome. Altogether this work reconciles different ideas from the past and brings out a more nuanced role of replication in controlling the division process in a growth-rate dependent manner.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina El Najjar ◽  
Peter L. Graumann

Abstract Objective The bacterial cell cycle comprises initiation of replication and ensuing elongation, concomitant chromosome segregation (in some organisms with a delay termed cohesion), and finally cell division. By quantifying the number of origin and terminus regions in exponentially growing Bacillus subtilis cells, and after induction of DNA damage, we aimed at determining cell cycle parameters at different growth rates at a single cell level. Results B. subtilis cells are mostly mero-oligoploid during fast growth and diploid during slow growth. However, we found that the number of replication origins and of termini is highly heterogeneous within the cell population at two different growth rates, and that even at slow growth, a majority of cells attempts to maintain more than a single chromosome at all times of the cell cycle. Heterogeneity of chromosome copy numbers may reflect different subpopulations having diverging growth rates even during exponential growth conditions. Cells continued to initiate replication and segregate chromosomes after induction of DNA damage, as judged by an increase in origin numbers per cell, showing that replication and segregation are relatively robust against cell cycle perturbation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina El Najjar ◽  
Peter Graumann

Abstract Objective The bacterial cell cycle comprises initiation of replication and ensuing elongation, concomitant chromosome segregation (in some organisms with a delay termed cohesion), and finally cell division. By quantifying the number of origin and terminus regions in exponentially growing Bacillus subtilis cells, and after induction of DNA damage, we aimed at determining cell cycle parameters at different growth rates at a single cell level. Results B. subtilis cells are mostly mero-oligoploid during fast growth and diploid during slow growth. However, we found that the number of replication origins and of termini is highly heterogeneous within the cell population at two different growth rates, and that even at slow growth, a majority of cells attempts to maintain more than a single chromosome at all times of the cell cycle. Heterogeneity of chromosome copy numbers may reflect different subpopulations having diverging growth rates even during exponential growth conditions. Cells continued to initiate replication and segregate chromosomes after induction of DNA damage, as judged by an increase in origin numbers per cell, showing that replication and segregation are relatively robust against cell cycle perturbation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaana Mannik ◽  
Sebastien Pichoff ◽  
Joseph Lutkenhaus ◽  
Jaan Mannik

Cell division in Escherichia coli starts with the formation of an FtsZ protofilament network in the middle of the cell, the Z ring. However, only after a considerable lag period do the cells start to form a midcell constriction. The basis of this cell cycle checkpoint is yet unclear. The onset of constriction is dependent upon the arrival of so-called late divisome proteins, among which, FtsN is the last arriving essential one. The timing and dependency of FtsN arrival to the divisome, along with genetic evidence, suggests it triggers cell division. In this study, we used high throughput fluorescence microscopy to quantitatively determine the arrival of FtsN and the early divisome protein ZapA to midcell at a single-cell level during the cell cycle. Our data show that recruitment of FtsN coincides with the initiation of constriction within experimental uncertainties and that the relative fraction of ZapA/FtsZ reaches its highest value at this event. We also find that FtsN is recruited to midcell in two distinct temporal stages with septal peptidoglycan synthesis starting in the first stage and accelerating in the second stage, during which the amount of ZapA/FtsZ in the midcell decreases. In the presence of FtsA*, recruitment of FtsN becomes concurrent with the formation of the Z-ring, but constriction is still delayed indicating FtsN recruitment is not rate limiting, at least under these conditions. Finally, our data support the recently proposed idea that ZapA/FtsZ and FtsN are part of physically separate complexes in midcell throughout the whole septation process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godefroid Charbon ◽  
Belén Mendoza-Chamizo ◽  
Christopher Campion ◽  
Xiaobo Li ◽  
Peter Ruhdal Jensen ◽  
...  

During steady-state Escherichia coli growth, the amount and activity of the initiator protein, DnaA, controls chromosome replication tightly so that initiation only takes place once per origin in each cell cycle, regardless of growth conditions. However, little is known about the mechanisms involved during transitions from one environmental condition to another or during starvation stress. ATP depletion is one of the consequences of long-term carbon starvation. Here we show that DnaA is degraded in ATP-depleted cells. A chromosome replication initiation block is apparent in such cells as no new rounds of DNA replication are initiated while replication events that have already started proceed to completion.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina El Najjar ◽  
Peter Graumann

Abstract Objective: The bacterial cell cycle comprises initiation of replication and ensuing elongation, concomitant chromosome segregation (in some organisms with a delay termed cohesion), and finally cell division. By quantifying the number of origin and terminus regions in exponentially growing Bacillus subtilis cells, and after induction of DNA damage, we aimed at determining cell cycle parameters at different growth rates at a single cell level.Results: B. subtilis cells are mostly mero-oligoploid during fast growth and diploid during slow growth. However, we found that the number of replication origins and of termini is highly heterogeneous within the cell population at two different growth rates, and that even at slow growth, a majority of cells attempts to maintain more than a single chromosome at all times of the cell cycle. Heterogeneity of chromosome copy numbers may reflect different subpopulations having diverging growth rates even during exponential growth conditions. Cells continued to initiate replication and segregate chromosomes after induction of DNA damage, as judged by an increase in origin numbers per cell, showing that replication and segregation are relatively robust against cell cycle perturbation.


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