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Streptococcus pneumoniae DivIVA: Localization and Interactions in a MinCD-Free Context ^,

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biomediche, Sez. Microbiologia Medica, Università di Cagliari, Via Porcell, 4, 09100 Cagliari, Italy,¹ Dipartimento di Biologia, Università "Tor Vergata," Via della Ricerca Scientifica, I-00133 Roma, Italy,² Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolare CNR, Roma, Italy,³ Dipartimento di Citomorfologia, Università di Cagliari, Monserrato, Cagliari, Italy,⁴ Dipartimento di Bioinformatica, SharDna Life Sciences, 09100 Pula, Cagliari, Italy⁵

Received 30 July 2006/ Accepted 2 November 2006

To clarify the function of DivIVA in Streptococcus pneumoniae, we localized this protein in exponentially growing cells by both immunofluorescence microscopy and immunoelectron microscopy and found that S. pneumoniae DivIVA (DivIVA_SPN) had a unique localization profile: it was present simultaneously both as a ring at the division septum and as dots at the cell poles. Double-immunofluorescence analysis suggested that DivIVA is recruited to the septum at a later stage than FtsZ and is retained at the poles after cell separation. All the other cell division proteins that we tested were localized in the divIVA null mutant, although the percentage of cells having constricted Z rings was significantly reduced. In agreement with its localization profile and consistent with its coiled-coil nature, DivIVA interacted with itself and with a number of known or putative S. pneumoniae cell division proteins. Finally, a missense divIVA mutant, obtained by allelic replacement, allowed us to correlate, at the molecular level, the specific interactions and some of the facets of the divIVA mutant phenotype. Taken together, the results suggest that although the possibility of a direct role in chromosome segregation cannot be ruled out, DivIVA in S. pneumoniae seems to be primarily involved in the formation and maturation of the cell poles. The localization and the interaction properties of DivIVA_SPN raise the intriguing possibility that a common, MinCD-independent function evolved differently in the various host backgrounds.

Published ahead of print on 10 November 2006.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

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