DOI: 10.1111/mmi.12703. <i>De novo</i> morphogenesis in <scp>L</scp>‐forms via geometric control of cell growth

De novo morphogenesis in L‐forms via geometric control of cell growth

10.1111/mmi.12703

Crossref journal-article

Wiley

Molecular Microbiology (311)

Abstract

SummaryIn virtually all bacteria, the cell wall is crucial for mechanical integrity and for determining cell shape. Escherichia coli's rod‐like shape is maintained via the spatiotemporal patterning of cell‐wall synthesis by the actin homologue MreB. Here, we transiently inhibited cell‐wall synthesis in E. coli to generate cell‐wall‐deficient, spherical L‐forms, and found that they robustly reverted to a rod‐like shape within several generations after inhibition cessation. The chemical composition of the cell wall remained essentially unchanged during this process, as indicated by liquid chromatography. Throughout reversion, MreB localized to inwardly curved regions of the cell, and fluorescent cell wall labelling revealed that MreB targets synthesis to those regions. When exposed to the MreB inhibitor A22, reverting cells regrew a cell wall but failed to recover a rod‐like shape. Our results suggest that MreB provides the geometric measure that allows E. coli to actively establish and regulate its morphology.

Bibliography

Billings, G., Ouzounov, N., Ursell, T., Desmarais, S. M., Shaevitz, J., Gitai, Z., & Huang, K. C. (2014). De novo morphogenesis in Lâforms via geometric control of cell growth. Molecular Microbiology, 93(5), 883â896. Portico.

Authors 7

Gabriel Billings (first)
Nikolay Ouzounov (additional)
Tristan Ursell (additional)
Samantha M. Desmarais (additional)
Joshua Shaevitz (additional)
Zemer Gitai (additional)
Kerwyn Casey Huang (additional)

References 49 Referenced 70

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Dates

Type	When
Created	11 years, 1 month ago (July 3, 2014, 8:58 a.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 10 months ago (Oct. 2, 2023, 4:39 p.m.)
Indexed	1 month, 1 week ago (July 14, 2025, 11:46 p.m.)
Issued	11 years, 1 month ago (July 23, 2014)
Published	11 years, 1 month ago (July 23, 2014)
Published Online	11 years, 1 month ago (July 23, 2014)
Published Print	10 years, 11 months ago (Sept. 1, 2014)

Funders 4

National Institute of General Medical Sciences 10.13039/100000057
Region: Americas
gov (National government)
Labels2
1. U.S. National Institute of General Medical Sciences
2. NIGMS
Awards1
1. DP2OD006466
National Science Foundation 10.13039/100000001
Region: Americas
gov (National government)
Labels4
1. U.S. National Science Foundation
2. NSF
3. US NSF
4. USA NSF
Awards1
1. MCB-1149328
National Science Foundation 10.13039/100000001
Region: Americas
gov (National government)
Labels4
1. U.S. National Science Foundation
2. NSF
3. US NSF
4. USA NSF
Awards1
1. PHY-0844466
National Science Foundation 10.13039/100000001
Region: Americas
gov (National government)
Labels4
1. U.S. National Science Foundation
2. NSF
3. US NSF
4. USA NSF
Awards1
1. PHYS-1066293

BibTeX

@article{Billings_2014, title={De novo morphogenesis in <scp>L</scp>‐forms via geometric control of cell growth}, volume={93}, ISSN={1365-2958}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mmi.12703}, DOI={10.1111/mmi.12703}, number={5}, journal={Molecular Microbiology}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Billings, Gabriel and Ouzounov, Nikolay and Ursell, Tristan and Desmarais, Samantha M. and Shaevitz, Joshua and Gitai, Zemer and Huang, Kerwyn Casey}, year={2014}, month=jul, pages={883–896} }

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  "resource": {
    "primary": {
      "URL": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mmi.12703"
    }
  },
  "subtitle": [],
  "short-title": [],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2014,
        7,
        23
      ]
    ]
  },
  "references-count": 49,
  "journal-issue": {
    "issue": "5",
    "published-print": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2014,
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      ]
    }
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  "alternative-id": [
    "10.1111/mmi.12703"
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  "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mmi.12703",
  "relation": {},
  "ISSN": [
    "0950-382X",
    "1365-2958"
  ],
  "subject": [],
  "container-title-short": "Molecular Microbiology",
  "published": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2014,
        7,
        23
      ]
    ]
  }
}