Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1992 Jan;174(1):63–70. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.1.63-70.1992

Roles of MinC and MinD in the site-specific septation block mediated by the MinCDE system of Escherichia coli.

P A de Boer 1, R E Crossley 1, L I Rothfield 1
PMCID: PMC205677  PMID: 1729224

Abstract

The proper placement of the cell division site in Escherichia coli requires the site-specific inactivation of potential division sites at the cell poles in a process that requires the coordinate action of the MinC, MinD, and MinE proteins. In the absence of MinE, the coordinate expression of MinC and MinD leads to a general inhibition of cell division. MinE gives topological specificity to the division inhibition process, so that the septation block is restricted to the cell poles. At normal levels of expression, both MinC and MinD are required for the division block. We show here that, when expressed at high levels, MinC acts as a division inhibitor even in the absence of MinD. The division inhibition that results from MinC overexpression in the absence of MinD is insensitive to the MinE topological specificity factor. The results suggest that MinC is the proximate cause of the septation block and that MinD plays two roles in the MinCDE system--it activates the MinC-dependent division inhibition mechanism and is also required for the sensitivity of the division inhibition system to the MinE topological specificity factor.

Full text

PDF
65

Images in this article

66Image
on p.66
67Image
on p.67
67Image
on p.67
68Image
on p.68

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bi E., Lutkenhaus J. Interaction between the min locus and ftsZ. J Bacteriol. 1990 Oct;172(10):5610–5616. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.10.5610-5616.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bouché F., Bouché J. P. Genetic evidence that DicF, a second division inhibitor encoded by the Escherichia coli dicB operon, is probably RNA. Mol Microbiol. 1989 Jul;3(7):991–994. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1989.tb00249.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bradford M. M. A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem. 1976 May 7;72:248–254. doi: 10.1006/abio.1976.9999. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Béjar S., Bouché F., Bouché J. P. Cell division inhibition gene dicB is regulated by a locus similar to lambdoid bacteriophage immunity loci. Mol Gen Genet. 1988 Apr;212(1):11–19. doi: 10.1007/BF00322439. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Béjar S., Bouché J. P. A new dispensable genetic locus of the terminus region involved in control of cell division in Escherichia coli. Mol Gen Genet. 1985;201(2):146–150. doi: 10.1007/BF00425651. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cahill K. B., Carmichael G. G. Deletion analysis of the polyomavirus late promoter: evidence for both positive and negative elements in the absence of early proteins. J Virol. 1989 Sep;63(9):3634–3642. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.9.3634-3642.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Casadaban M. J., Cohen S. N. Analysis of gene control signals by DNA fusion and cloning in Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1980 Apr;138(2):179–207. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(80)90283-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Churchward G., Belin D., Nagamine Y. A pSC101-derived plasmid which shows no sequence homology to other commonly used cloning vectors. Gene. 1984 Nov;31(1-3):165–171. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(84)90207-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Cook W. R., de Boer P. A., Rothfield L. I. Differentiation of the bacterial cell division site. Int Rev Cytol. 1989;118:1–31. doi: 10.1016/s0074-7696(08)60871-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Dai K., Lutkenhaus J. ftsZ is an essential cell division gene in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1991 Jun;173(11):3500–3506. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.11.3500-3506.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. George J., Castellazzi M., Buttin G. Prophage induction and cell division in E. coli. III. Mutations sfiA and sfiB restore division in tif and lon strains and permit the expression of mutator properties of tif. Mol Gen Genet. 1975 Oct 22;140(4):309–332. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kunkel T. A., Roberts J. D., Zakour R. A. Rapid and efficient site-specific mutagenesis without phenotypic selection. Methods Enzymol. 1987;154:367–382. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)54085-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Labie C., Bouché F., Bouché J. P. Minicell-forming mutants of Escherichia coli: suppression of both DicB- and MinD-dependent division inhibition by inactivation of the minC gene product. J Bacteriol. 1990 Oct;172(10):5852–5855. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.10.5852-5855.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lutkenhaus J. Regulation of cell division in E. coli. Trends Genet. 1990 Jan;6(1):22–25. doi: 10.1016/0168-9525(90)90045-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pla J., Sánchez M., Palacios P., Vicente M., Aldea M. Preferential cytoplasmic location of FtsZ, a protein essential for Escherichia coli septation. Mol Microbiol. 1991 Jul;5(7):1681–1686. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1991.tb01915.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wang X. D., de Boer P. A., Rothfield L. I. A factor that positively regulates cell division by activating transcription of the major cluster of essential cell division genes of Escherichia coli. EMBO J. 1991 Nov;10(11):3363–3372. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb04900.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ward J. E., Jr, Lutkenhaus J. Overproduction of FtsZ induces minicell formation in E. coli. Cell. 1985 Oct;42(3):941–949. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90290-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. de Boer P. A., Cook W. R., Rothfield L. I. Bacterial cell division. Annu Rev Genet. 1990;24:249–274. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.24.120190.001341. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. de Boer P. A., Crossley R. E., Rothfield L. I. A division inhibitor and a topological specificity factor coded for by the minicell locus determine proper placement of the division septum in E. coli. Cell. 1989 Feb 24;56(4):641–649. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90586-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. de Boer P. A., Crossley R. E., Rothfield L. I. Central role for the Escherichia coli minC gene product in two different cell division-inhibition systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Feb;87(3):1129–1133. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.3.1129. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES