Chromosome translocation inflates bacillus forespores and impacts cellular 
morphology

López-Garrido, Javier; Ojkic, Nikola; Khanna, Kanika; Wagner, Felix R.; Villa, Elisabeth; Endres, Robert G.; Pogliano, Kit

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.01.027

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

Chromosome translocation inflates bacillus forespores and impacts cellular morphology

MPS-Authors

There are no MPG-Authors in the publication available

External Resource

No external resources are shared

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

There are no public fulltexts stored in PuRe

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

López-Garrido, J., Ojkic, N., Khanna, K., Wagner, F. R., Villa, E., Endres, R. G., et al. (2018). Chromosome translocation inflates bacillus forespores and impacts cellular morphology. Cell, 172(4), 758-770.e14. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.01.027.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0006-AC16-0

Abstract

Summary
The means by which the physicochemical properties of different cellular components together determine bacterial cell shape remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate a programmed cell-shape change during Bacillus subtilis sporulation, when a rod-shaped vegetative cell is transformed to an ovoid spore. Asymmetric cell division generates a bigger mother cell and a smaller, hemispherical forespore. The septum traps the forespore chromosome, which is translocated to the forespore by SpoIIIE. Simultaneously, forespore size increases as it is reshaped into an ovoid. Using genetics, timelapse microscopy, cryo-electron tomography, and mathematical modeling, we demonstrate that forespore growth relies on membrane synthesis and SpoIIIE-mediated chromosome translocation, but not on peptidoglycan or protein synthesis. Our data suggest that the hydrated nucleoid swells and inflates the forespore, displacing ribosomes to the cell periphery, stretching septal peptidoglycan, and reshaping the forespore. Our results illustrate how simple biophysical interactions between core cellular components contribute to cellular morphology.