PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

In Corynebacterium glutamicum, as in many Gram-positive bacteria, the cell division gene ftsl is located at the beginning of the dcw cluster, which comprises cell division- and cell wall-related genes. Transcriptional analysis of the cluster revealed that ftsl is transcribed as part of a polycistronic mRNA, which includes at least mraZ, mraW, ftsL, ftsl and murE, from a promoter that is located upstream of mraZ ftsl appears also to be expressed from a minor promoter that is located in the intergenic ftsL-ftsl region. It is an essential gene in C. glutamicum, and a reduced expression of ftsl leads to the formation of larger and filamentous cells. A translational GFP-Ftsl fusion protein was found to be functional and localized to the mid-cell of a growing bacterium, providing evidence of its role in cell division in C. glutamicum. This study involving proteomic analysis (using 2D SDS-PAGE) of a C. glutamicum strain that has partially depleted levels of Ftsl reveals that at least 20 different proteins were overexpressed in the organism. Eight of these overexpressed proteins, which include DivIVA, were identified by MALDI-TOF Overexpression of DivIVA was confirmed by Western blotting using anti-DivIVA antibodies, and also by fluorescence microscopy analysis of a C. glutamicum RESF1 strain expressing a chromosomal copy of a divIVA-gfp transcriptional fusion. Overexpression of DivIVA was not observed when Ftsl was inhibited by cephalexin treatment or by partial depletion of FtsZ.