Fig. 3.

Genetic perturbations that alter the MreB curvature enrichment profile. a RodZ binds near the polymerization interface in domain IIA of MreB (left). Mutations in MreB previously identified³⁰ to suppress ∆rodZ growth defects (D83E, R124C, and A174T), as well as a mutation at the polymerization interface (E276D), are spread throughout the protein and are conserved in T. maritima MreB (gray text in parentheses; right). b MreB mutants (all as sandwich fusions to msfGFP) have a variety of cell shapes, including wider cells (MreB^D83E), tapered and sometimes branched cells (MreB^R124C; white box highlights a branched cell), much wider and rounder cells (MreB^A174T), and wild-type-like cells (MreB^E276D). Scale bar is 5 µm. c, d Strains that harbor mutations in MreB that suppress ∆rodZ growth defects have altered cellular dimensions (c) and MreB curvature enrichment profiles (d) relative to wild type, whereas MreB^E276D cells are similar to wild type. Error bars in c represent standard deviation of populations with n > 230 cells. All bins in d include at least 50 observations, and shaded areas represent standard deviation of enrichment from resampled data for each strain