Coupling between DNA replication and cell division mediated by the FtsA protein in Escherichia coli: a pathway independent of the SOS response, the "TER" pathway

Bacterial cell division: the mechanism and its precison

The recent development of cell biology techniques for bacteria to allow visualization of fundamental processes in time and space, and their use in synchronous populations of cells, has resulted in a dramatic increase in our understanding of cell division and its regulation in these tiny cells. The first stage of cell division is the formation of a Z ring, composed of a polymerized tubulin-like protein, FtsZ, at the division site precisely at midcell. Several membrane-associated division proteins are then recruited to this ring to form a complex, the divisome, which causes invagination of the cell envelope layers to form a division septum. The Z ring marks the future division site, and the timing of assembly and positioning of this structure are important in determining where and when division will take place in the cell. Z ring assembly is controlled by many factors including negative regulatory mechanisms such as Min and nucleoid occlusion that influence Z ring positioning and FtsZ accessory proteins that bind to FtsZ directly and modulate its polymerization behavior. The replication status of the cell also influences the positioning of the Z ring, which may allow the tight coordination between DNA replication and cell division required to produce two identical newborn cells.

Concentration and assembly of the division ring proteins FtsZ, FtsA, and ZipA during the Escherichia coli cell cycle

The concentration of the cell division proteins FtsZ, FtsA, and ZipA and their assembly into a division ring during the Escherichia coli B/r K cell cycle have been measured in synchronous cultures obtained by the membrane elution technique. Immunostaining of the three proteins revealed no organized structure in newly born cells. In a culture with a doubling time of 49 min, assembly of the Z ring started around minute 25 and was detected first as a two-dot structure that became a sharp band before cell constriction. FtsA and ZipA localized into a division ring following the same pattern and time course as FtsZ. The concentration (amount relative to total mass) of the three proteins remained constant during one complete cell cycle, showing that assembly of a division ring is not driven by changes in the concentration of these proteins. Maintenance of the Z ring during the process of septation is a dynamic energy-dependent event, as evidenced by its disappearance in cells treated with sodium azide.

CtrA mediates a DNA replication checkpoint that prevents cell division in Caulobacter crescentus

Coordination of DNA replication and cell division is essential in order to ensure that progeny cells inherit a full copy of the genome. Caulobacter crescentus divides asymmetrically to produce a non-replicating swarmer cell and a replicating stalked cell. The global response regulator CtrA coordinates DNA replication and cell division by repressing replication initiation and transcription of the early cell division gene ftsZ in swarmer cells. We show that CtrA also mediates a DNA replication checkpoint of cell division by regulating the late cell division genes ftsQ and ftsA. CtrA activates transcription of the P(QA) promoter that co-transcribes ftsQA, thus regulating the ordered expression of early and late cell division proteins. Cells inhibited for DNA replication are unable to complete cell division. We show that CtrA is not synthesized in pre-divisional cells in which replication has been inhibited, preventing the transcription of P(QA) and cell division. Replication inhibition prevents the activation of the ctrA P2 promoter, which normally depends on CtrA phosphorylation. This suggests the possibility that CtrA phosphorylation may be affected by replication inhibition.

Characterisation of mutant alleles of the cell division protein FtsA, a regulator and structural component of the Escherichia coli septator

Two alleles of ftsA, a gene that encodes an essential cell division protein in Escherichia coli, have-been mapped at the nucleotide level. The mutations are located inside domains that are conserved in an ATP-binding protein family. The ftsA2 mutation lies in the adenine-binding domain, and the ftsA3 in the ribose-binding domain. The defect in ampicillin binding to PBP3 described for allele ftsA3 is allele-specific. This supports the hypothesis of the existence of different domains in FtsA having different functions.

Quantitative determination of FtsA at different growth rates in Escherichia coli using monoclonal antibodies

FtsA is an essential cell division protein in Escherichia coli. Its synthesis in low amounts makes the investigation of its functions difficult. Partially purified FtsA protein was obtained by solubilizing cellular inclusion bodies after overexpression of the ftsA gene for the purpose of raising monoclonal antibodies. Mice were immunized with this FtsA protein fraction and their spleen cells were fused to Sp2/0-AG14 mouse myeloma cells. Hybrid cells were screened and two clones were positively identified as FtsA monoclonal antibody producers by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting. A quantitative assay using these monoclonal antibodies indicated that the average number of FtsA molecules per cell to be between 50 and 200. However, the concentration of FtsA protein normalized to total cell protein was constant over a wide range of growth rates. This finding is in agreement with the hypothesized role of FtsA protein as a stoichiometric component of the septum.

An amino-proximal domain required for the localization of FtsQ in the cytoplasmic membrane, and for its biological function in Escherichia coli

The location of FtsQ, an Escherichia coli protein essential for cell division, is, under physiological conditions, in the cytoplasmic membrane facing towards the periplasmic space. An amino-proximal hydrophobic domain is required for FtsQ to reach its location and for its activity in the cell. Overexpression of modified forms of FtsQ is deleterious for the cell.

Phospholipid domains determine the spatial organization of the Escherichia coli cell cycle: the membrane tectonics model

Escherichia coli normally divides at its equator between segregated nucleoids. Such division is inhibited during perturbations of chromosome replication (even in the absence of inducible division inhibitors); eventually, division resumes at sites which are not at this equator. Escherichia coli will also divide at its poles to generate minicells following overproduction of the FtsZ or MinE proteins. The mechanisms underlying the division inhibition and the positioning of the division sites are unknown. In the membrane tectonics model, I propose that the formation of phospholipid domains within the cytoplasmic membrane positions division sites. The particular phospholipid composition of a domain attracts particular proteins and determines their activity; conversely, particular proteins change the composition of domains. Principally via such proteins, the interaction of the chromosome with the membrane creates a chromosomal domain. The development of chromosomal domains during replication and nucleoid formation contributes to the formation and positioning of a septal domain between them. During septation (cell division), this septal domain matures into a polar domain. Each domain attracts and activates different enzymes. The septal domain attracts and activates enzymes necessary for septation. Preventing the formation of the septal domain by preventing chromosome replication prevents normal division. Altering the composition of the polar domain may allow septation enzymes to function there and generate minicells. A corollary of the model explains how the formation of an origin domain by the attachment of hemi-methylated origin DNA to the membrane may underlie the creation and migration of structures within the envelope, the periseptal annuli.

On the chronology and topography of bacterial cell division

Gene products that play a role in the formation of cell septum should be expected to be endowed with a set of specific properties. In principle, septal proteins should be located at the cell envelope. The expression of division genes should ensure the synthesis of septal proteins at levels commensurate with the needs of cell division at different rates of cell duplication. We have results indicating that some fts genes located within the 2.5-min cluster in the Escherichia coli chromosome conform to these predictions.

The native form of FtsA, a septal protein of Escherichia coli, is located in the cytoplasmic membrane

Antisera able to recognize FtsA, one of the septal proteins of Escherichia coli, have been obtained and used to show that native FtsA, when expressed at levels ranging from physiological to induced from lambda pR, is located in the inner membrane. Experiments of trypsin accessibility to FtsA in membranes, spheroplasts, and vesicles indicated that FtsA is located such that it faces the cytoplasm. This location is consistent with current knowledge about the participation of FtsA in a molecular complex active in cell division called septator.

Chromosome replication does not trigger cell division in E. coli

An essential part of the chromosome replication origin of E. coli K-12 and B/r was replaced by the plasmid pOU71. The average initiation mass of replication for pOU71 decreases with increasing temperature. The constructed strains were grown exponentially at different temperatures, and cell sizes and DNA content were measured by flow cytometry. The average DNA content increased with increasing temperature, but the cell size distribution was largely unaffected. Furthermore, cells in which DNA replication had not yet initiated (cells in the B period) became less abundant with increasing temperature. The increased DNA content could not be explained by an increase in the length of the C period. It is concluded that chromosome replication does not trigger cell division in E. coli, but that the chromosome replication and cell division cycles of E. coli run in parallel independently of each other.

A calcium flux at the termination of replication triggers cell division in Escherichia coli. Hypothesis

Cell division in Escherichia coli is coupled to chromosome replication. Even in the absence of known inducible division inhibitors, perturbations of chromosome replication affect cell division. Early studies suggested that a signal at the termination of replication might trigger subsequent division. Although later studies have suggested that fork encounter during termination is an active process involving specific termination sites and the tus protein, the coupling mechanism between termination and cell division remains to be elucidated. Recently it has been shown that the chromosome of a bacterium, Pseudomonas tabaci, contains a high proportion of calcium. E. coli maintains an intracellular concentration of free calcium identical to that of higher organisms and in dividing cells of E. coli a twenty-fold increase in the level of total calcium in the cytoplasm, a flux, occurs. In this article I propose that during the replication of the chromosome calcium entry balances calcium binding to DNA. At the termination of replication, there is a brief interval between the end of calcium binding to the chromosome and the end of calcium entry or release into the cytoplasm. During this interval the level of free calcium therefore rises. This rise may result in the observed flux by triggering the entry of calcium directly via voltage-gated calcium channels or indirectly via changes in phospholipid configurations. Mechanisms whereby these changes in calcium levels might be coupled to cell division and to a phospholipid control of the cell cycle are discussed.

Overinitiation of replication of the Escherichia coli chromosome from an integrated runaway-replication derivative of plasmid R1

A 16-base-pair fragment, deletion of which completely inactivated oriC, was replaced by a temperature-dependent runaway-replication derivative (the copy number of which increases with temperature) of the IncFII plasmid R1. The constructed strains were temperature sensitive, and flow cytometry revealed a severalfold increase in the DNA/mass ratio following shifts to nonpermissive temperatures. The cell size distribution was broader in the constructed strains relative to that in the wild type because of asynchrony between the chromosome replication and cell division cycles. This difference was more pronounced for counterclockwise initiation of chromosomal replication, in which small DNA-less cells and long filaments were abundant. Following a temperature shift the cell size distributions became even more broad, showing that changes in the frequency of chromosomal replication affect cell division and emphasizing the interplay between these two processes.

Identification, cloning, and expression of bolA, an ftsZ-dependent morphogene of Escherichia coli

A newly found morphogene of Escherichia coli, bolA, mapping at min 10 of the genetic map, was cloned in a 7.2-kilobase BamHI fragment and identified by its ability to produce osmotically stable spherical cells when overexpressed. This gene codes for a polypeptide of 13 kilodaltons. Overexpression of bolA+ was achieved in low-copy-number vectors with operon fusions to the tet and lac promoters, indicating a clockwise direction of transcription. While no modification of any of the penicillin-binding proteins was observed, morphological effects due to overexpression of bolA+ were shown to be dependent on the presence of an active ftsZ gene product. Our results suggest the existence of a mechanism mediated by FtsZ for modifying the conformation of nascent murein in the early steps of septum formation.

A single calcium flux triggers chromosome replication, segregation and septation in bacteria: a model

Abrupt changes in the concentration of intracellular calcium, through the mediation of calmodulin, is presumed to play an essential role in many molecular processes in eukaryotes including triggering cell cycle events. Although early studies failed to establish any role for calcium in the growth of bacteria, recent studies have demonstrated that bacteria have several calcium transport systems, and an intracellular concentration of free calcium identical to that of higher organisms, which appears to fluctuate during the cell cycle. Moreover, calmodulin-like proteins have been reported in bacteria, and the growth of E. coli is sensitive to calmodulin inhibitors. In this article we propose that a single flux of calcium, abruptly raising the intracellular concentration of free calcium, is responsible for the triggering in bacteria of the major cell cycle events, initiation of DNA replication, chromosome partition and cell division. We predict that major roles in this process will involve a bacterial calmodulin-like protein and a primitive cytoskeleton. The mechanism of triggering different cell cycle events by a single calcium flux is discussed.

Modulation of cell wall synthesis by DNA replication in Escherichia coli during initiation of cell growth

Resting cells of Escherichia coli are able to initiate growth and murein biosynthesis in the presence of beta-lactam antibiotics binding to penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) 1a and 1b (E. J. de la Rosa, M. A. de Pedro, and D. Vázquez, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:5632-5635, 1985). Under these conditions, cells elongate normally until they approach the first doubling in mass, the time at which cell lysis starts. Assuming that coupling between DNA replication and cell division both in cells starting growth and in growing cells is essentially similar, triggering of the lytic response in the beta-lactam-treated cells coincides with the termination of the first round of DNA replication. This coincidence suggests that both events are interrelated. We investigated this possibility by studying the initiation of growth in cultures of wild-type strains and in cell division mutants treated with beta-lactams inhibiting PBPs 1a and 1b and with the DNA replication inhibitor nalidixic acid. Addition of nalidixic acid, even late in the first cell cycle, prevented the lytic response of the cells to the blockade of PBPs 1a and 1b. The effect of nalidixic acid is more likely due to its action on DNA replication itself than to its indirect inhibitory effect on cell division or to its ability to induce the SOS system of the cell. These observations favor the idea that the cell wall biosynthetic machinery might be modulated by DNA replication at precise periods during cell growth.

Structural inhibition and reactivation of Escherichia coli septation by elements of the SOS and TER pathways

The inhibition of cell division caused by induction of the SOS pathway in Escherichia coli structurally blocks septation, as deduced from two sets of results. Potential septation sites active at the time of SOS induction became inactivated, while those initiated during the following doubling time were active. Penicillin resistance increased in wild-type UV light-irradiated cells, a behavior similar to that observed in mutants in which structural blocks were introduced by inactivation of FtsA. Potential septation sites that have been structurally blocked by either the SOS division inhibitor, furazlocillin inhibition of PBP3, or inactivation of a TER pathway component, FtsA3, could be reactivated one doubling time after removal of the inhibitory agent in the presence of an active lon gene product. Reactivation of potential septation sites blocked by the presence of an inactivated FtsA3 was significantly lower when the lon protease was not active, suggesting that Lon plays a role in the removal of inactivated TER pathway products from the blocked potential septation sites.