Department of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Rue Michel Servet 1, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
Trends Microbiol. 2018 Apr;26(4):363-375. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2017.11.007. Epub 2017 Nov 29.
Understanding how asymmetries in cellular constituents are achieved and how such positional information directs the construction of structures in a nonrandom fashion is a fundamental problem in cell biology. The recent identification of determinants that self-assemble into macromolecular complexes at the bacterial cell pole provides new insight into the underlying organizational principles in bacterial cells. Specifically, polarity studies in host-associated or free-living α-proteobacteria, a lineage of Gram-negative (diderm) bacteria, reveals that functional and cytological mono- and bipolarity is often conferred by the multivalent polar organizer PopZ, originally identified as a component of a polar chromosome anchor in the cell cycle model system Caulobacter crescentus. PopZ-dependent polarization appears to be widespread and also functional in obligate intracellular pathogens. Here, we discuss how PopZ polarization and the establishment of polar complexes occurs, and we detail the physiological roles of these complexes.
了解细胞成分的不对称性是如何产生的，以及这种位置信息如何以非随机的方式指导结构的构建，这是细胞生物学中的一个基本问题。最近发现的决定因素可以在细菌细胞的极点处自组装成大分子复合物，这为细菌细胞的基本组织原则提供了新的见解。具体来说，在与宿主相关或自由生活的α-变形菌（革兰氏阴性（双壁）细菌）中的极性研究表明，功能和细胞学的单极和两极性通常是由多价极性组织者 PopZ 赋予的，PopZ 最初被鉴定为细胞周期模型系统新月柄杆菌中极染色体锚的一个组成部分。依赖 PopZ 的极化似乎在专性细胞内病原体中广泛存在且具有功能。在这里，我们讨论了 PopZ 极化和极性复合物的建立是如何发生的，并详细介绍了这些复合物的生理作用。
