Fig. 3 |. The canonical divisome components, FtsL, FtsQ, and FtsB, are dispensable for vegetative cell division but are important for asymmetric division.

a, Growth profiles of WT, ΔftsL, ΔftsQ, and ΔftsB strains in BHIS. Data are from a single growth curve experiment; mean, and standard deviation curves are plotted from three biological replicates. b, Violin plots showing cell length distributions and representative micrographs of WT, ΔftsL, ΔftsQ, and ΔftsB cells sampled from BHIS cultures during exponential growth (OD₆₀₀ ~0.5). White circles indicate means from each replicate, black lines indicate average means, and the dotted line indicates the WT average mean for comparison across strains. Data from three biological replicates; >1,500 cells per sample. Scale bar, 5 μm. c, d, Cytological profiling of sporulating WT, ΔftsL, ΔftsQ, and ΔftsB cells as in Fig. 2 c, d. Bars indicate means, and error bars indicate standard deviation. *p<0.05, ***p<0.0001; statistical significance was determined using an ordinary one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s test. Data from three independent experiments; >1,000 total cells and >100 visibly sporulating cells per sample. e, Bacterial two-hybrid analysis of interactions between components of the predicted polar divisome. The β-galactosidase activity was normalized to the negative control. Mean ± standard deviation from three biological replicates is indicated. The schematic shows interactions between different proteins where lines are colored according to the amount of β-galactosidase activity detected. f, Schematic showing FtsL, FtsQ, and FtsB forming a divisome-like subcomplex with SpoVD and SpoVE. This polar divisome contributes to septal PG synthesis during asymmetric division.