Skip to main content
. 2013 Nov 5;105(9):1976–1986. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2013.09.030

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Polarized fluorescence measurement of purified FtsZ in vitro. (A and B) Polarized fluorescence images (A) and electron microscopy images (B) are shown for small and large FtsZ bundles. The electron microscopy images show parallel protofilaments of FtsZ bundled together. Fluorescence images are obtained when the linear polarizer is parallel and perpendicular to the x axis. α is the angle between the bundle and the x axis. (C) The largest polarization anisotropy, P = I|| − I−)/(I||+ I−), occurs when the angle between the bundle and the x axis is 90°. Large bundles of FtsZ show a stronger anisotropy than do small protofilament bundles. Error bars correspond to the mean ± SE. C-terminal YFP large bundles (174 samples) and small bundles (92 samples), and N-terminal GFP small bundles (64 samples), all show a similar orientational alignment (see also Fig. S2). These results indicate that the fluorophore dipole is roughly parallel to the bundle. To see this figure in color, go online.