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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2006, p. 7677-7685, Vol. 188, No. 21
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01072-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Requirement for the Cell Division Protein DivIB in Polar Cell Division and Engulfment during Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis{triangledown}

L. S. Thompson,1 P. L. Beech,2 G. Real,3 A. O. Henriques,3 and E. J. Harry1*

Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia,1 Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Vic 3125, Australia,2 Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Avenida da República, Apartado 127, 2781-901 Oeiras Codex, Portugal3

Received 21 July 2006/ Accepted 18 August 2006

During spore formation in Bacillus subtilis, cell division occurs at the cell pole and is believed to require essentially the same division machinery as vegetative division. Intriguingly, although the cell division protein DivIB is not required for vegetative division at low temperatures, it is essential for efficient sporulation under these conditions. We show here that at low temperatures in the absence of DivIB, formation of the polar septum during sporulation is delayed and less efficient. Furthermore, the polar septa that are complete are abnormally thick, containing more peptidoglycan than a normal polar septum. These results show that DivIB is specifically required for the efficient and correct formation of a polar septum. This suggests that DivIB is required for the modification of sporulation septal peptidoglycan, raising the possibility that DivIB either regulates hydrolysis of polar septal peptidoglycan or is a hydrolase itself. We also show that, despite the significant number of completed polar septa that form in this mutant, it is unable to undergo engulfment. Instead, hydrolysis of the peptidoglycan within the polar septum, which occurs during the early stages of engulfment, is incomplete, producing a similar phenotype to that of mutants defective in the production of sporulation-specific septal peptidoglycan hydrolases. We propose a role for DivIB in sporulation-specific peptidoglycan remodelling or its regulation during polar septation and engulfment.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Phone: 61 2 9514 4173. Fax: 61 2 9514 4201. E-mail: liz.harry{at}uts.edu.au.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 25 August 2006.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2006, p. 7677-7685, Vol. 188, No. 21
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01072-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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