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. 1982 Oct;152(1):479–484. doi: 10.1128/jb.152.1.479-484.1982

Plasmolysis during the division cycle of Escherichia coli.

A J Olijhoek, C G Van Eden, F J Trueba, E Pas, N Nanninga
PMCID: PMC221448  PMID: 6749814

Abstract

Cells of Escherichia coli were plasmolyzed with sucrose. They were classified according to length by way of electron micrographs taken from samples prepared by agar filtration. The percentage of plasmolyzed cells increased about two- and threefold between mean cell sizes of newborn and separating cells. However, dividing cells were less frequently plasmolyzed than nondividing cells of the same length class. Analysis of cell halves (prospective daughters) in dividing cells showed that they behaved as independent cellular units with respect to plasmolysis. The results indicate that compressibility of the protoplast (given a certain plasmolysis space) is inversely related to cell size. That a dividing cell does not react as one osmotic compartment to osmotic stress may suggest that cell size-dependent strength of the cell membrane-cell wall association, rather than variation in turgor, plays a role during the cell division cycle.

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Selected References

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

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