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Abstract:
In the bacterium Escherichia coli, the Min proteins oscillate between the cell poles to select the cell
center as division site. This dynamic pattern has been proposed to arise by self-organization of
these proteins, and several models have suggested a reaction-diffusion type mechanism. Here, we
found that the Min proteins spontaneously formed planar surface waves on a flat membrane in
vitro. The formation and maintenance of these patterns, which extended for hundreds of
micrometers, required adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP), and they persisted for hours. We present a
reaction-diffusion model of the MinD and MinE dynamics that accounts for our experimental
observations and also captures the in vivo oscillations.
