This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cooper, S Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cooper, S

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 1991 December; 55(4): 649-674

Synthesis of the cell surface during the division cycle of rod-shaped, gram-negative bacteria.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor 48109-0620.

SUMMARY

When the growth of the gram-negative bacterial cell wall is considered in relation to the synthesis of the other components of the cell, a new understanding of the pattern of wall synthesis emerges. Rather than a switch in synthesis between the side wall and pole, there is a partitioning of synthesis such that the volume of the cell increases exponentially and thus perfectly encloses the exponentially increasing cytoplasm. This allows the density of the cell to remain constant during the division cycle. This model is explored at both the cellular and molecular levels to give a unified description of wall synthesis which has the following components: (i) there is no demonstrable turnover of peptidoglycan during cell growth, (ii) the side wall grows by diffuse intercalation, (iii) pole synthesis starts by some mechanism and is preferentially synthesized compared with side wall, and (iv) the combined side wall and pole syntheses enclose the newly synthesized cytoplasm at a constant cell density. The central role of the surface stress model in wall growth is distinguished from, and preferred to, models that propose cell-cycle-specific signals as triggers of changes in the rate of wall synthesis. The actual rate of wall synthesis during the division cycle is neither exponential nor linear, but is close to exponential when compared with protein synthesis during the division cycle.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lan, G., Wolgemuth, C. W., Sun, S. X. (2007). Z-ring force and cell shape during division in rod-like bacteria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 16110-16115 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ursinus, A., van den Ent, F., Brechtel, S., de Pedro, M., Holtje, J.-V., Lowe, J., Vollmer, W. (2004). Murein (Peptidoglycan) Binding Property of the Essential Cell Division Protein FtsN from Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 186: 6728-6737 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Dmitriev, B. A., Toukach, F. V., Schaper, K.-J., Holst, O., Rietschel, E. T., Ehlers, S. (2003). Tertiary Structure of Bacterial Murein: the Scaffold Model. J. Bacteriol. 185: 3458-3468 [Abstract] [Full Text]