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Journal of Bacteriology, February 2004, p. 785-793, Vol. 186, No. 3
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.3.785-793.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A Predicted ABC Transporter, FtsEX, Is Needed for Cell Division in Escherichia coli

Kari L. Schmidt,1 Nicholas D. Peterson,1 Ryan J. Kustusch,1 Mark C. Wissel,1 Becky Graham,2,{dagger} Gregory J. Phillips,2 and David S. Weiss1*

Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242,1 Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-12402

Received 22 July 2003/ Accepted 20 October 2003

FtsE and FtsX have homology to the ABC transporter superfamily of proteins and appear to be widely conserved among bacteria. Early work implicated FtsEX in cell division in Escherichia coli, but this was subsequently challenged, in part because the division defects in ftsEX mutants are often salt remedial. Strain RG60 has an ftsE::kan null mutation that is polar onto ftsX. RG60 is mildly filamentous when grown in standard Luria-Bertani medium (LB), which contains 1% NaCl, but upon shift to LB with no NaCl growth and division stop. We found that FtsN localizes to potential division sites, albeit poorly, in RG60 grown in LB with 1% NaCl. We also found that in wild-type E. coli both FtsE and FtsX localize to the division site. Localization of FtsX was studied in detail and appeared to require FtsZ, FtsA, and ZipA, but not the downstream division proteins FtsK, FtsQ, FtsL, and FtsI. Consistent with this, in media lacking salt, FtsA and ZipA localized independently of FtsEX, but the downstream proteins did not. Finally, in the absence of salt, cells depleted of FtsEX stopped dividing before any change in growth rate (mass increase) was apparent. We conclude that FtsEX participates directly in the process of cell division and is important for assembly or stability of the septal ring, especially in salt-free media.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Phone: (319) 335-7785. Fax: (319) 335-9006. E-mail: david-weiss{at}uiowa.edu.

{dagger} Present address: E. coli Genetic Stock Center, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8193.

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2004, p. 785-793, Vol. 186, No. 3
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.3.785-793.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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