A Highlights from MBoC Selection: Motion of variable-length MreB filaments at the bacterial cell membrane influences cell morphology |
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Authors: | Christian Reimold Herve Joel Defeu Soufo Felix Dempwolff Peter L Graumann |
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Institution: | Yale University;aMikrobiologie, Fakultät für Biologie, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany;bSYNMIKRO, LOEWE-Zentrum für Synthetische Mikrobiologie, 35043 Marburg, Germany |
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Abstract: | The maintenance of rod-cell shape in many bacteria depends on actin-like MreB proteins and several membrane proteins that interact with MreB. Using superresolution microscopy, we show that at 50-nm resolution, Bacillus subtilis MreB forms filamentous structures of length up to 3.4 μm underneath the cell membrane, which run at angles diverging up to 40° relative to the cell circumference. MreB from Escherichia coli forms at least 1.4-μm-long filaments. MreB filaments move along various tracks with a maximal speed of 85 nm/s, and the loss of ATPase activity leads to the formation of extended and static filaments. Suboptimal growth conditions lead to formation of patch-like structures rather than extended filaments. Coexpression of wild-type MreB with MreB mutated in the subunit interface leads to formation of shorter MreB filaments and a strong effect on cell shape, revealing a link between filament length and cell morphology. Thus MreB has an extended-filament architecture with the potential to position membrane proteins over long distances, whose localization in turn may affect the shape of the cell wall. |
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