Anucleate cell production and surface extension in a temperature-sensitive chromosome initiation mutant of Bacillus subtilis

A model for asymmetric septum formation during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis

Many differentiation processes in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes begin with an asymmetric division, producing 'daughter' cells that differ in size and developmental fate. This is particularly obvious in the well-studied prokaryotic life cycles of Caulobacter and Bacillus. In no system, however, is the mechanism of asymmetric division understood. Here I propose a model for the mechanism of asymmetric division during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. The model explains both the timing and asymmetric localization of spore-septum formation. It also explains the morphological phenotypes of various asporogenous (spo) mutants.

A model of bacterial DNA segregation based upon helical geometry

A new mechanism to segregate daughter genomes in bacterial cells is suggested that is based upon the rules of geometry governing the helix clock (Mendelson, 1982a). The reorientation of cell surface string arrays used as a timing reference in the helix clock is capable of drawing apart the initial products of DNA replication. Physically linking the sister DNA replication origins to the ends of the initial cell surface string inserted into the cell surface at the start of a helix clock cycle, and linking the DNA terminus to a point along the length of the same string provides a means to mark the locations to which the genomes will segregate as well as the place where cell division will occur. The parallel packing of additional cell surface strings into an array which includes the string to which DNA is attached provides the necessary spatial rearrangements. The helical segregation model can account for the precise registration of cell divisions with the completion of replication forks in a multifork replication system, provides a basis for determining the relationship of sister cell sizes at division, and can also accommodate the asymmetrical divisions associated with minicell production and sporulation. Examination of the helical segregation theory under multifork DNA replication conditions moreover reveals that adjacent helical clocks are physically linked to one another although totally independent in terms of their progression through the clock cycle. A relationship between the initiation of DNA replication forks and the insertion of the first cell surface string associated with the start of a helix clock cycle is predicted by the model.

Morphological and cell wall alterations in thermosensitive DNA mutants of Bacillus subtilis

Incubation of thermosensitive dna mutants of Bacillus subtilis at the nonpermissive temperature results, at the cellular level, in the appearance of swellings. The study of one particular type of swelling, named "terminal balloon", reveals that the occurrence of the latter was correlated with completion of rounds of DNA replication. Morphological and autoradiographic observations reveal that (a) cell wall consists of two layers, (b) the outer layer splits at a fixed distance from the cell pole and allows the formation of a balloon contained within a single wall layer and (c) the bulk of active synthesis of cell wall is localized in the balloon area leading to the formation of a near spherical monolayer. Implications of these results for cell wall morphogenesis are discussed.

Initiation of wall assembly sites in Streptococcus faecium

In electron micrographs of replicas of Streptococcus faecium, sites of wall growth are located between pairs of raised equatorial bands. Analysis of cells taken from cultures with mass doubling times between 30 and 125 min indicates that rounds of wall synthesis are initiated at a time close to division, which is temporally unrelated to the initiation or termination of chromosome replication. Growth sites are initiated at a relatively constant volume independent of growth rate when the volume contained within the two segments of wall adjoining an equatorial band marker approaches ca. 0.26 micrometer 3.

Bacterial growth and division: genes, structures, forces, and clocks

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Cell division of cycle of Bacillus subtilis: evidence of variability in period D

In Bacillus subtilis the deoxyribonucleic acid content and the extent of cell division during inhibition of chromosome replication increased as a function of the average cell mass, independent of the growth rate. At each growth rate, mass, deoxyribonucleic acid, and residual division varied in different cultures. The variation is consistent with a large variability in the D period. At growth rates higher than 1.5 doublings per h at 37 degrees C, the change in D accounts for the growth rate dependence of the mass and deoxyribonucleic acid content.

Coordination between chromosome replication and cell division in Escherichia coli

Cell division properties of Escherichia coli B/r containing either a dnaC or a dnaI mutation were examined. Incubation at nonpermissive temperature resulted in the eventual production of cells of approximately normal size, or slightly smaller, which lacked chromosomal DNA. The cell division patterns in cultures which were grown at permissive temperature and then shifted to nonpermissive temperature were consistent with: first, division and equipartition of chromosomes by cells which were in the C and D periods at the time of the shift; second, an apparent delay in cell division; and third, commencement of the formation of chromosomeless cells. In glucose-grown cultures of the dnaI mutant, production of chromosomeless cells continued for at least 120 min, whereas in the dnaC mutant chromosomeless cells were formed during a single interval between 110 and 130 min after the temperature shift. The results are discussed in light of the hypothesis that replication of a specific chromosomal region is not an obligatory requirement for the initiation and completion of the processes leading to division in a cell which contains at least one functioning chromosome.

The cell cycle of Bacillus subtilis as studied by electron microscopy

Bacillus subtilis strain Marburg was grown exponentially with a doubling time of 65 min. To follow the time course of various cell cycle events, cells were collected by agar filtration and were then classified according to length. The DNA replication cycle was determined by a quantitative analysis of radioautograms of tritiated thymidine pulse labeled cells. The DNA replication period was found to be 45 min. This period is preceded and followed by periods without DNA synthesis of about 10 min. The morphology and segregation of nucleoplasmic bodies was studied in thin sections. B. subtilis contains two sets of genomes. DNA replication and DNA segregation seem to go hand in hand and DNA segregation is completed shortly after termination of DNA replication. Cell division and cell separation were investigated in whole mount preparations (agar filtration) and in thin sections. Cell division starts about 20 min after cell birth; cell separation starts at about 45 min and before completion of the septum.

Inhibition of Escherichia coli division by protein X

We propose that protein X provides the connection between damage to Escherichia coli DNA and inhibition of septation and cell division. This connection is needed to guarantee that each new bacterium receives a complete DNA copy. We present several new experiments here which demonstrate that the degree to which septation is inhibited following damage to DNA is correlated with the amount of protein X that is produced. Rifampin selectively blocks protein X production. This drug was shown to allow cells whose DNA had been damaged by nalidixic acid to resume septation. Several mutants formed septa-less filaments and also produced protein X at 42 degrees C; rifampin both inhibited their production of protein X and permitted them to form septa and divide. Essentially complementary results were obtained with a dnaA mutant which at 42 degrees C stopped making DNA, did not produce protein X, and continued to divide; added bleomycin degraded DNA, induced protein X, and inhibited septation. These results, as well as previous observations, are all consistent with the proposal that protein X is produced as a consequence of DNA damage and is an inhibitor of septation. We suggest that septation could require binding of a single-stranded region of DNA to a septum site in the membrane. Protein X could block this binding by combining with the DNA. This control could provide an emergency mechanism in addition to the usually proposed coordination in which completion of DNA synthesis creates a positive effector for a terminal step of septation. Or it could be the sole coordinating mechanism, even under unperturbed growth conditions.

Thymineless death in Escherichia coli dnaB mutants and in a dnaB dnaG double mutant

The interference of dnaB mutations of Escherichia coli with thymineless death is described. All the isogenic Thy- dnaB mutants of E. coli we have tested show a remarkable immunity towards cell death induced by thymine deprivation at the nonpermissive temperature. We have also constructed and tested an isogenic double dnaB dnaG mutant. It loses its viability in the absence of thymine at both permissive and nonpermissive temperatures. The role of the dnaB gene product is discussed.

Macromolecular synthesis in chromosome initiation mutants of Bacillus subtilis

Inactivation of the dna B or dna D gene product in Bacillus subtilis stimulates RNA and protein synthesis. Strains containing ts dna B and D mutations have been constructed by introducing the mutations by transformation into a thymine requiring strain which does not lyse during thymine starvation. The consequences of inactivation of these gene products have been assessed by comparing RNA and protein synthesis during thymine starvation at the restrictive temperature with the recipient strain. In the ts+ strain, there is a doubling in rate of RNA synthesis during thymine starvation. In the ts dna B and D mutations at the restrictive temperature the rate of RNA synthesis increases four fold. By preincubating the mutants in the absence of thymine for one generation at the permissive temperature the two fold increase in rate of RNA synthesis associated with inactivation of the initiation complex can be demonstrated under conditions where the ts+ strain shows a decrease in rate of RNA synthesis. The rate of protein synthesis observed largely reflects the rate of RNA synthesis in all strains. Completion of the chromosome at the restrictive temperature has no significant effect on the rate of RNA synthesis. It is suggested that inactivation of the initiation complex after chromosome initiation could play an important role in control of RNA synthesis in relation to the cell cycle.

Midcycle doubling of uptake rates of adenine and serine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Rates of uptake of serine and of adenine were measured as a function of cell size, and therefore age, in asynchronous, exponential phase cultures of diploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain Y55. In both cases, uptake rates were constant during the initial third of the cell cycle and doubled during the S period in the middle part of the cycle to a constant value during the final third. Cell size and age at mid-step doubling were indistinguishable for serine and adenine uptake, and occurred during the period of DNA synthesis. The results extend an earlier hypothesis of constancy of cell growth rates (mass accumulation rates) and rates of uptake of all or almost all compounds into cells in exponential phase growth to one of piecewise constancy, with an abrupt doubling of growth and uptake rates during DNA synthesis.

Nuclear and cell division in Bacillus subtilis. Antibiotic-induced morphological changes

Incubation of Bacillus subtilis after outgrowth from spores in the presence of four different antibiotics in two different concentrations, showed that septation can occur without termination of nuclear division. Septation is then only partially uncoupled from the normal division cycle. Observations on location and development of mesosomes in the presence of the antibiotics, made in three-dimensional cell reconstructions, suggest that the mesosome plays a role in the normal coordination between nuclear and cell division, and may explain the partial independence between these two processes in B. subtilis.

Genetic aspects of bacterial endospore formation

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Cellular organization of Bacillus subtilis: sodium dodecyl sulfate-induced cell partitioning into zebra structures

Cells of Bacillus subtilis heated in high concentrations of sodium dodecyl sulfate (5%) and then washed free of detergent with a hot salt solution (80 C) become structurally reorganized into regions of densely compacted cytoplasm (termed zebras) and regions of sparsely filled material (termed spaces). Size distribution studies of zebras indicate that division-suppressed mutants and wild-type cells both yield zebras of comparable length. Similarly the lengths of zebras found in populations emerging from spores are uniform in one-, two-, three-, and four-zebra-containing cells. In contrast, the length of spaces is slightly larger than that of zebras and is unusually large in two-zebra-containing cells. The locations of zebras and spaces along cell length have been studied in spore out-growth populations. A statistical procedure developed previously in genome location investigations was used to analyze the location of zebras along cell length. The data indicate that as cells elongate, new sites arise where the cell contents are strongly bound to the cell surface. Within filament populations produced by division-suppressed mutants there is a linear relationship of mean filament length and zebra number per filament. These data indicate that cytoplasm in filaments with no obvious structural compartmentalizations may be organized into units associated with particular regions of cell surface. The attachment of cell contents to the cell surface may involve deoxyribonucleic acid. Zebra-containing cells digested with proteolytic enzyme and ribonuclease are converted to cells that contain a crystalline-like granule fixed at the location of each zebra. Exposure to deoxyribonuclease mobilizes these granules within the cell wall.