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Journal of Bacteriology, May 1999, p. 2710-2718, Vol. 181, No. 9
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Membrane-Bound Division Proteins DivIB and DivIC of Bacillus subtilis Function Solely through Their External Domains in both Vegetative and Sporulation Division

Vittorio L. Katis and R. Gerry Wake*

Department of Biochemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia

Received 3 December 1998/Accepted 8 February 1999

The Bacillus subtilis membrane-bound division proteins, DivIB and DivIC, each contain a single transmembrane segment flanked by a short cytoplasmic N-terminal domain and a larger external C-terminal domain. Both proteins become localized at the division site prior to septation. Mutagenesis of both divIB and divIC was performed whereby the sequences encoding the cytoplasmic domains were replaced by the corresponding sequence of the other gene. Finally, the cytoplasmic-plus-transmembrane-encoding domain of each protein was replaced by a totally foreign sequence not involved in division, that encodes the N-terminal-plus-transmembrane domains of the Escherichia coli TolR protein. B. subtilis strains expressing the divIB and divIC hybrids, in the absence of the wild-type gene, were viable when grown under conditions in which the wild-type genes were found previously to be essential. Furthermore, these strains were able to sporulate to near normal levels. Thus, the cytoplasmic and transmembrane segments of DivIB and DivIC do not appear to have any specific functions other than to anchor these proteins correctly in the membrane. The implications of these findings are discussed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. Phone: (61-2) 9351-2504. Fax: (61-2) 9351-4726. E-mail: G.Wake{at}biochem.usyd.edu.au.

Journal of Bacteriology, May 1999, p. 2710-2718, Vol. 181, No. 9
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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