Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
Curr Biol. 2019 May 6;29(9):1460-1470.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.03.066. Epub 2019 Apr 25.
Bacterial growth and division require insertion of new peptidoglycan (PG) into the existing cell wall by PG synthase enzymes. Emerging evidence suggests that many PG synthases require activation to function; however, it is unclear how activation of division-specific PG synthases occurs. The FtsZ cytoskeleton has been implicated as a regulator of PG synthesis during division, but the mechanisms through which it acts are unknown. Here, we show that FzlA, an FtsZ-binding protein and essential regulator of constriction in Caulobacter crescentus, helps link FtsZ to PG synthesis to promote division. We find that hyperactive mutants of the PG synthases FtsW and FtsI specifically render fzlA, but not other division genes, non-essential. However, FzlA is still required to maintain proper constriction rate and efficiency in a hyperactive PG synthase background. Intriguingly, loss of fzlA in the presence of hyperactivated FtsWI causes cells to rotate about the division plane during constriction and sensitizes cells to cell-wall-specific antibiotics. We demonstrate that FzlA-dependent signaling to division-specific PG synthesis is conserved in another α-proteobacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens. These data establish that FzlA helps link FtsZ to cell wall remodeling and is required for signaling to both activate and spatially orient PG synthesis during division. Overall, our findings support the paradigm that activation of SEDS-PBP PG synthases is a broadly conserved requirement for bacterial morphogenesis.
细菌的生长和分裂需要通过 PG 合成酶将新的肽聚糖(PG)插入到现有细胞壁中。新出现的证据表明,许多 PG 合成酶需要激活才能发挥作用;然而,目前尚不清楚如何激活特定于分裂的 PG 合成酶。FtsZ 细胞骨架已被认为是分裂过程中 PG 合成的调节剂,但它的作用机制尚不清楚。在这里,我们表明,FtsZ 结合蛋白 FzlA 是新月柄杆菌收缩的必需调节剂,有助于将 FtsZ 与 PG 合成联系起来,以促进分裂。我们发现,PG 合成酶 FtsW 和 FtsI 的超活性突变体特异性使 fzlA(但不是其他分裂基因)成为非必需的。然而,在高活性 PG 合成酶背景下,FzlA 仍然需要维持适当的收缩速率和效率。有趣的是,在高活性 FtsWI 的存在下失去 fzlA 会导致细胞在收缩过程中围绕分裂平面旋转,并使细胞对细胞壁特异性抗生素敏感。我们证明,在另一种α变形菌根瘤农杆菌中,FzlA 对特定于分裂的 PG 合成的信号转导是保守的。这些数据表明,FzlA 有助于将 FtsZ 与细胞壁重塑联系起来,并且是在分裂过程中激活和空间定向 PG 合成的信号所必需的。总的来说,我们的研究结果支持了这样一种观点,即 SEDS-PBP PG 合成酶的激活是细菌形态发生的广泛保守要求。