Cell Division
Frederico Gueiros-Filho
from: Bacillus: Cellular and Molecular Biology (Second edition) (Edited by: Peter Graumann). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2012)
Abstract
Cell division is the process of generating two viable descendants from a progenitor cell. This involves two coordinated events: the replication and segregation of the bacterial chromosome and the splitting of the progenitor cell by cytokinesis, which in bacteria is also known as septum formation. Bacterial cells have developed a remarkably sophisticated protein machine capable of precisely splitting a progenitor cell at the right place and time in every cell cycle. This machine, which is known as the divisome or septalsome, is based on a contractile protein ring, as in the case of eukaryotes. In contrast to eukaryotic cells, however, which use actin and myosin in their contractile protein ring, the bacterial contractile machine is based on the tubulin-like protein FtsZ. Here we review the mechanism of cytokinesis in Bacillus subtilis read more ...
