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J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01934-07
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

DivIVA is required for polar growth in the MreB-lacking rod-shaped actinomycete Corynebacterium glutamicum

Departamento de Biología Molecular. Área de Microbiología. Facultad de Biología. Universidad de León. León, 24071. Spain; Departamento de Biología Molecular. Área de Biología Celular. Facultad de Biología. Universidad de León. León, 24071. Spain; Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. University of Texas Medical School. 6431 Fannin. Houston, TX 77030. USA; Department of Cell and Organism Biology. Lund University. 22362 Lund. Sweden

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: jagils{at}unileon.es.

	Abstract

The actinomycete Corynebacterium glutamicum grows as rod-shaped cells by zonal peptidoglycan synthesis at the cell poles. In this bacterium, experimental depletion of the polar DivIVA_CG protein resulted in the inhibition of polar growth; consequently, these cells exhibited a coccoid morphology. This result demonstrated that DivIVA is required for cell elongation and the acquisition of a rod shape. DivIVA from Streptomyces or Mycobacterium localized to the cell poles of DivIVA_CG-depleted C. glutamicum and restored polar peptidoglycan synthesis, in contrast to DivIVAs from Bacillus subtilis or Streptococcus pneumoniae which localized at the septum of C. glutamicum. This confirmed that DivIVAs from actinomycetes are involved in polarized cell growth. DivIVA_CG localized at the septum after cell-wall synthesis had started and the nucleoids had already segregated, suggesting that in C. glutamicum DivIVA is not involved in cell division or chromosome segregation.

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