Structural Determinants and Their Role in Cyanobacterial Morphogenesis

Springstein, Benjamin L.; Nuernberg, Dennis J.; Weiss, Gregor L.; Pilhofer, Martin; Stucken, Karina

Abstract

Cells have to erect and sustain an organized and dynamically adaptable structure for an efficient mode of operation that allows drastic morphological changes during cell growth and cell division. These manifold tasks are complied by the so-called cytoskeleton and its associated proteins. In bacteria, FtsZ and MreB, the bacterial homologs to tubulin and actin, respectively, as well as coiled-coil-rich proteins of intermediate filament (IF)-like function to fulfil these tasks. Despite generally being characterized as Gram-negative, cyanobacteria have a remarkably thick peptidoglycan layer and possess Gram-positive-specific cell division proteins such as SepF and DivIVA-like proteins, besides Gram-negative and cyanobacterial-specific cell division proteins like MinE, SepI, ZipN (Ftn2) and ZipS (Ftn6). The diversity of cellular morphologies and cell growth strategies in cyanobacteria could therefore be the result of additional unidentified structural determinants such as cytoskeletal proteins. In this article, we review the current advances in the understanding of the cyanobacterial cell shape, cell division and cell growth.

Más información

Título según WOS: ID WOS:000601976200001 Not found in local WOS DB
Título de la Revista: LIFE-BASEL
Volumen: 10
Número: 12
Editorial: MDPI
Fecha de publicación: 2020
DOI:

10.3390/life10120355

Notas: ISI