Crossref journal-article
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Genes & Development (246)
Abstract

Cell division in bacteria is mediated by the tubulin-like protein FtsZ, which assembles into a structure known as the Z ring at the future site of cytokinesis. We report the discovery of a Z-ring-associated protein in Bacillus subtilis called ZapA. ZapA was found to colocalize with the Z ring in vivo and was capable of binding to FtsZ and stimulating the formation of higher-order assemblies of the cytokinetic protein in vitro. The absence of ZapA alone did not impair cell viability, but the absence of ZapA in combination with the absence of a second, dispensable division protein EzrA caused a severe block in cytokinesis. The absence of ZapA also caused lethality in cells producing lower than normal levels of FtsZ or lacking the division-site-selection protein DivIVA. Conversely, overproduction of ZapA reversed the toxicity of excess levels of the division inhibitor MinD. In toto, the evidence indicates that ZapA is part of the cytokinetic machinery of the cell and acts by promoting Z-ring formation. Finally, ZapA is widely conserved among bacteria with apparent orthologs in many species, including Escherichia coli, in which the orthologous protein exhibited a strikingly similar pattern of subcellular localization to that of ZapA. Members of the ZapA family of proteins are likely to be a common feature of the cytokinetic machinery in bacteria.

Bibliography

Gueiros-Filho, F. J., & Losick, R. (2002). A widely conserved bacterial cell division protein that promotes assembly of the tubulin-like protein FtsZ. Genes & Development, 16(19), 2544–2556.

Authors 2
  1. Frederico J. Gueiros-Filho (first)
  2. Richard Losick (additional)
References 60 Referenced 345
  1. 10.1128/jb.178.13.3877-3884.1996 / J. Bacteriol. / FtsZ ring formation in fts mutants. by Addinall (1996)
  2. 10.1128/jb.179.13.4277-4284.1997 / J. Bacteriol. / Temperature shift experiments with an ftsZ84(Ts) strain reveal rapid dynamics of FtsZ localization and indicate that the Z ring is required throughout septation and cannot reoccupy division sites once constriction has initiated. by Addinall (1997)
  3. 10.1126/science.270.5236.637
  4. 10.1016/S0092-8674(02)00698-0
  5. 10.1038/354161a0
  6. 10.1128/jb.179.5.1671-1683.1997 / J. Bacteriol. / The divIVA minicell locus of Bacillus subtilis. by Cha (1997)
  7. 10.1128/jb.173.11.3500-3506.1991 / J. Bacteriol. / ftsZ is an essential cell division gene in Escherichia coli. by Dai (1991)
  8. 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90586-2
  9. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1997.3811764.x
  10. 10.1016/0092-8674(95)90486-7
  11. 10.1073/pnas.93.1.519
  12. Errington J. Daniel R.A. (2002) Cell division during growth and sporulation. in Bacillus subtilis and its closest relatives, eds Sonenshein A.L. Hoch J.A. Losick R. (ASM Press, Washington, D.C.) pp 97–112. (10.1128/9781555817992.ch9)
  13. 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb06073.x / EMBO J. / Transcription of ftsZ oscillates during the cell cycle of Escherichia coli. by Garrido (1993)
  14. 10.1128/JB.181.1.167-176.1999 / J. Bacteriol. / Recruitment of ZipA to the septal ring of Escherichia coli is dependent on FtsZ and independent of FtsA. by Hale (1999)
  15. 10.1128/JB.182.18.5153-5166.2000
  16. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2001.02370.x
  17. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1999.01439.x
  18. 10.1128/jb.171.3.1496-1505.1989 / J. Bacteriol. / Chromosome partitioning in Escherichia coli: Novel mutants producing anucleate cells. by Hiraga (1989)
  19. 10.1016/0955-0674(94)90119-8
  20. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1999.01575.x
  21. 10.1073/pnas.96.26.14819
  22. 10.1128/jb.176.17.5320-5329.1994 / J. Bacteriol. / spo0J is required for normal chromosome segregation as well as the initiation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. by Ireton (1994)
  23. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.02007.x
  24. 10.1101/gad.13.9.1156 / Genes & Dev. / Septation, dephosphorylation, and the activation of sigmaF during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. by King (1999)
  25. 10.1126/science.1064629
  26. 10.1128/jb.177.9.2403-2407.1995 / J. Bacteriol. / Salt stress is an environmental signal affecting degradative enzyme synthesis in Bacillus subtilis. by Kunst (1995)
  27. 10.1101/gad.10.4.478
  28. 10.1073/pnas.96.17.9642
  29. 10.1128/JB.183.18.5449-5452.2001
  30. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1999.01322.x
  31. 10.1093/emboj/18.9.2364
  32. 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0169(1998)40:1<71::AID-CM7>3.0.CO;2-I
  33. 10.1128/JB.182.1.164-170.2000
  34. 10.1016/S1369-5274(01)00264-8
  35. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1999.01450.x
  36. 10.1101/gad.12.21.3419
  37. 10.1128/jb.176.9.2754-2758.1994 / J. Bacteriol. / Guanine nucleotide-dependent assembly of FtsZ into filaments. by Mukherjee (1994)
  38. 10.1093/emboj/17.2.462
  39. 10.1128/JB.181.3.823-832.1999 / J. Bacteriol. / Analysis of FtsZ assembly by light scattering and determination of the role of divalent metal cations. (1999)
  40. 10.1093/emboj/21.4.685
  41. 10.1128/JB.181.20.6419-6424.1999 / J. Bacteriol. / MinDE-dependent pole-to-pole oscillation of division inhibitor MinC in Escherichia coli. by Raskin (1999)
  42. 10.1073/pnas.96.9.4971
  43. 10.1093/emboj/18.9.2372
  44. 10.1074/jbc.M009033200
  45. 10.1128/JB.182.3.613-619.2000
  46. Sambrook J. Russel D.W. (2001) Molecular cloning. A laboratory manual. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY).
  47. 10.1021/bi011370i
  48. 10.1021/bi990917e
  49. 10.1073/pnas.052595099
  50. 10.1128/JB.180.8.2050-2056.1998 / J. Bacteriol. / FtsZ dynamics during the division cycle of live Escherichia coli cells. by Sun (1998)
  51. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1998.00942.x
  52. 10.1038/71330
  53. 10.1007/BF00451499
  54. 10.1016/S1369-5274(01)00262-4
  55. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1998.00958.x
  56. 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb01705.x
  57. 10.1016/0923-2508(90)90096-9 / Res. Microbiol. / Role of the nucleoid in the toporegulation of division. by Woldringh (1990)
  58. 10.1073/pnas.80.8.2305
  59. 10.1093/emboj/16.17.5455
  60. 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1999.01351.x
Dates
Type When
Created 22 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 4, 2002, 12:42 p.m.)
Deposited 3 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 15, 2021, 11:15 a.m.)
Indexed 2 minutes ago (Aug. 27, 2025, 9:32 a.m.)
Issued 22 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 1, 2002)
Published 22 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 1, 2002)
Published Online 22 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 1, 2002)
Published Print 22 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 1, 2002)
Funders 0

None

@article{Gueiros_Filho_2002, title={A widely conserved bacterial cell division protein that promotes assembly of the tubulin-like protein FtsZ}, volume={16}, ISSN={1549-5477}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/gad.1014102}, DOI={10.1101/gad.1014102}, number={19}, journal={Genes &amp; Development}, publisher={Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, author={Gueiros-Filho, Frederico J. and Losick, Richard}, year={2002}, month=oct, pages={2544–2556} }