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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2001, p. 4115-4126, Vol. 183, No. 14
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.14.4115-4126.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Constitutive Septal Murein Synthesis in
Escherichia coli with Impaired Activity of the
Morphogenetic Proteins RodA and Penicillin-Binding Protein
2
Miguel A.
de
Pedro,1,*
William D.
Donachie,2
Joachim-Volker
Höltje,3 and
Heinz
Schwarz3
Centro de Biología Molecular
"Severo Ochoa," Consejo Superior de Investigaciones
Científicas-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de
Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain1;
Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of
Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JR, Scotland2; and
Max-Planck Institut für Entwitcklungsbiologie, D-7400
Tübingen, Germany3
Received 20 February 2001/Accepted 27 April 2001
The pattern of peptidoglycan (murein) segregation in cells of
Escherichia coli with impaired activity of the
morphogenetic proteins penicillin-binding protein 2 and RodA has been
investigated by the D-cysteine-biotin immunolabeling
technique (M. A. de Pedro, J. C. Quintela, J.-V.
Höltje, and H. Schwarz, J. Bacteriol. 179:2823-2834, 1997). Inactivation of these proteins either by amdinocillin treatment or by mutations in the corresponding genes, pbpA and
rodA, respectively, leads to the generation of round,
osmotically stable cells. In normal rod-shaped cells, new murein
precursors are incorporated all over the lateral wall in a diffuse
manner, being mixed up homogeneously with preexisting material, except
during septation, when strictly localized murein synthesis occurs. In
contrast, in rounded cells, incorporation of new precursors is
apparently a zonal process, localized at positions at which division
had previously taken place. Consequently, there is no mixing of new and
old murein. Old murein is preserved for long periods of time in large,
well-defined areas. We propose that the observed patterns are the
result of a failure to switch off septal murein synthesis at the end of
septation events. Furthermore, the segregation results confirm that
round cells of rodA mutants do divide in alternate, perpendicular planes as previously proposed (K. J. Begg and
W. D. Donachie, J. Bacteriol. 180:2564-2567, 1998).
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro de
Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa," CSIC-UAM, Facultad de
Ciencias UAM, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. Phone: (34)
913978083. Fax: (34) 913978087. E-mail:
madepedro{at}cbm.uam.es.

This paper is dedicated to J. de la Rosa for the many years of hard
work that she has dedicated to our group at Centro de
Biología
Molecular "Severo
Ochoa."
Journal of Bacteriology, July 2001, p. 4115-4126, Vol. 183, No. 14
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.14.4115-4126.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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