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Title: Membrane fission during bacterial spore development requires cellular inflation driven by DNA translocation
Bacteria require membrane fission for both cell division and endospore formation. In Bacillus subtilis, sporulation initiates with an asymmetric division that generates a large mother cell and a smaller forespore that contains only a quarter of its genome. As the mother cell membranes engulf the forespore, a DNA translocase pumps the rest of the chromosome into the small forespore compartment, inflating it due to increased turgor. When the engulfing membrane undergoes fission, the forespore is released into the mother cell cytoplasm. The B. subtilis protein FisB catalyzes membrane fission during sporulation, but the molecular basis is unclear. Here, we show that forespore inflation and FisB accumulation are both required for an efficient membrane fission. Forespore inflation leads to higher membrane tension in the engulfment membrane than in the mother cell membrane, causing the membrane to flow through the …  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1734030
PAR ID:
10429974
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Current biology
Volume:
32
Issue:
19
ISSN:
0960-9822
Page Range / eLocation ID:
4186-4200. e8
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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