Laboratory of Bacterial Cell Biology, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal.
PLoS One. 2011;6(11):e27542. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027542. Epub 2011 Nov 14.
EzrA is a negative regulator of FtsZ in Bacillus subtilis, involved in the coordination between cell growth and cell division and in the control of the cell elongation-division cycle. We have now studied the role of the Staphylococcus aureus homologue of the B. subtilis EzrA protein and shown that it is not essential for cell viability. EzrA conditional and null mutants have an overall increase of the average cell size, compared to wild type strains. In the larger ezrA mutant S. aureus cells, cell division protein FtsZ and the cell wall synthesizing Penicillin Binding Proteins (PBPs) are not properly localized. This suggests that there may be a maximum cell diameter that allows formation of a Z-ring capable of recruiting the other components of the divisome and of driving cytokinesis. We propose that the major role of EzrA in S. aureus is in cell size homeostasis.
EzrA 是枯草芽孢杆菌 FtsZ 的负调控因子，参与细胞生长和分裂的协调以及细胞伸长-分裂周期的控制。我们现在研究了金黄色葡萄球菌与枯草芽孢杆菌 EzrA 蛋白同源物的作用，结果表明它对细胞活力不是必需的。与野生型菌株相比，EzrA 条件和缺失突变体的平均细胞大小总体增加。在较大的 ezrA 突变金黄色葡萄球菌细胞中，细胞分裂蛋白 FtsZ 和细胞壁合成青霉素结合蛋白（PBPs）不能正确定位。这表明可能存在一个最大的细胞直径，允许形成一个能够招募分裂体其他成分并驱动胞质分裂的 Z 环。我们提出，EzrA 在金黄色葡萄球菌中的主要作用是维持细胞大小的平衡。
