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A mutation in a newly discovered Escherichia coli cell division gene, ftsK, causes a temperature-sensitive late-stage block in division but does not affect chromosome replication or segregation. This defect is specifically suppressed by deletion of dacA, coding for the peptidoglycan DD-carboxypeptidase, PBP 5. FtsK is a large polypeptide (147 kDa) consisting of an N-terminal domain with several predicted membrane-spanning regions, a proline-glutamine-rich domain, and a C-terminal domain with a nucleotide-binding consensus sequence. FtsK has extensive sequence identity with a family of proteins from a wide variety of prokaryotes and plasmids. The plasmid proteins are required for intercellular DNA transfer, and one of the bacterial proteins (the SpoIIIE protein of Bacillus subtilis) has also been implicated in intracellular chromosomal DNA transfer.

The rodA(Sui) mutation allows cell division to take place at 42 degrees C in ftsI23 mutant cells, which produce a thermolabile penicillin-binding protein 3 (PBP3, the septation-specific peptidoglycan transpeptidase). We show here that the mutation in rodA is a single-base change from a glutamine to a chain termination (amber) codon, and that an amber suppressor (supE) present in the strain restores the ability to produce a reduced level of normal RodA protein. The reduced level of RodA is accompanied by an increase in the levels of two other proteins (PBP2 and PBP5) encoded by genes in the rodA operon. We show that an increased level of PBP5 is by itself sufficient to restore cell division to ftsI23 cells at 42 degrees C. Two other treatments were found to restore division capacity to the mutant: an increase in PBP6 (which is a D-alanine carboxypeptidase like PBP5) or suitable concentrations of D-cycloserine. All of the above treatments have the effect of reducing the number of pentapeptide side chains in peptidoglycan and increasing the number of tripeptides. We conclude that the effect of the rodA(Sui) mutation is to indirectly increase the availability of tripeptide side chains, which are used preferentially by PBP3 as acceptors in transpeptidation. A change in the proportions of different kinds of peptide side chain in the peptidoglycan can therefore determine whether cells will divide.

The phenotype of a minC mutant has been reexamined and found to correspond closely to the quantitative predictions of Teather et al. (R. M. Teather, J. F. Collins, and W. D. Donachie, J. Bacteriol. 118:407-413, 1974). We confirm that the number of septa formed per generation per cell length is fixed and independent of the number of available division sites and that "division potential" is directly proportional to cell length. In the minC mutant, septa form with equal probabilities at cell poles, cell centers, and cell quarters. In addition, we show that the time to next division is inversely related to cell length while division is asynchronous in long cells, suggesting that a single cell can form only one septum at a time.

The product of the ftsW gene has been identified as a polypeptide that, like the related RodA protein, shows anomalous mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. FtsW is produced at low levels that can be increased by altering the translation initiation region of the mRNA. Overproduction of FtsW strongly inhibits cell growth. A new mutant allele, ftsW201, causes a temperature-dependent block in the initiation stage of cell division which is similar to the division block in ftsZ mutants. The block in initiation of division in the ftsW201 allele is shown to be independent of FtsZ or the FtsZ inhibitor, SulA. In addition, the ftsW201 mutant is hypersensitive to overproduction of the division initiation protein FtsZ at the permissive temperature. Our results suggest a role for FtsW in an early stage of division which may involve an interaction with FtsZ.

Elevated levels of FtsA protein block cell division at a very early stage, similar to that caused by inhibition of the action of FtsZ. In contrast, overexpression of FtsA and FtsZ together does not block division. A specific ratio of FtsA to FtsZ protein, therefore, is required for cell division.

The way in which sister genomes are spatially separated after replication and positioned in sister cells after division remains unknown for prokaryotes. Experiments with Escherichia coli suggest that individual "chromosomes" (folded, covalently closed circular DNA molecules) are fixed in position within growing cells both before and during replication, but that they are rapidly moved apart by a fixed distance (unit length) immediately after replication has been completed. Such a mitosis-like mechanism accounts for the aberrant positions of DNA and septa in cells in which the normal coordination between DNA replication and cell elongation has been perturbed.

Thymine auxotrophs of three unrelated strains of Escherichia coli (K-12, B/r, and 15) were grown in media containing various concentrations of thymine. During steady-state growth conditions, cell volume increased as thymine concentration decreased but, in contrast to previous reports, this change was due to an increase in cell length without change in cell diameter.

The DnaA protein of Escherichia coli, essential for initiation at oriC, binds at a defined sequence which occurs at the chromosomal origin, near plasmid replication origins and in the promoters of the dnaA and mioC genes. This sequence also occurs at many other sites on the E. coli chromosome including three sites within the essential cell division genes ftsQ and A. Using an fts-lac fusion phage, lambda JFL100, we show here that fts gene expression responds both to reduced and increased intracellular levels of DnaA protein in a manner consistent with the hypothesis that DnaA protein regulates fts gene expression. Experiments using dnaC and dnaB-ts strains, however, suggest that DnaA control of fts transcription may be indirect, at least in part, with fts responding to the rate of initiation at oriC as well as to changes in DnaA protein level per se. It differs in this respect from dnaA gene expression which is unaffected when initiation of replication is inhibited by DnaB or DnaC inactivation. Strains integratively suppressed with pKN500 behave anomalously; neither fts nor dnaA transcription is significantly increased when DnaA is inactivated in these strains.

The kinetics of cell division have been studied in a strain of Escherichia coli which has an amber mutation in the ftsA gene and which also carries a temperature sensitive amber suppressor. This strain is therefore temperature sensitive for the synthesis of the ftsA protein. Cells of this strain were able to divide only if the synthesis of this protein took place during a specific part of the cell cycle. This was a short period (roughly 10 min in duration) immediately before the normal time of cell division.

Autoradiography of cell envelope "ghosts" from Escherichia coli was used to demonstrate that newly synthesized molecules of "matrix" protein are inserted at random locations over the entire surface of the outer membrane and that, once inserted, these molecules are not thereafter conserved in any fixed spatial location.

After inhibition of protein synthesis, the number of nuclear bodies (nucleoids) visible in cells of Escherichia coli B/rA corresponded closely to the number of completely replicated chromosomes. We calculated that nucleoid partition follows almost immediately after replication forks reach the chromosome terminus. We show that such a partition is dependent on protein synthesis and that this may reflect the requirement that cells must achieve a certain minimum length before partition (and subsequent cell division) can take place.

A new gene, parD, has been located at 88.5 min on the genetic map of E. coli. Cells carrying an amber mutation in this gene, together with a temperature-sensitive suppressor tRNA, are able to grow, synthesize DNA and divide at both 30 degrees C and 42 degrees C. At 42 degrees C, however, they are defective both in the separation of replicated chromosomes and in the placement of septa. Both the amount of DNA and the number of septa per cell mass are normal in cells growing at 42 degrees C: only the localization of the chromosomes and septa are altered. As a result, cells of random sizes are produced at 42 degrees C and the smallest of these contain no DNA.

Double mutants which carry mutations in genes (rodA, pbpA) required for cell elongation (i.e., maintenance of rod shape) in combination with mutations in genes (ftsA, ftsI, ftsQ, or ftsZ) required for septation were constructed. Such mutants were able to grow for about two mass doublings at a normal rate at the restrictive temperature (42 degrees C). The morphology of the cells formed under these conditions was interpreted by assuming the existence of a generalized system for peptidoglycan growth together with two additional systems which modify the shape of the growing peptidoglycan layer. The results also showed that different fts genes probably control different stages in septation. ftsZ (sulB or sfiB) appears to be required for the earliest step in septation, ftsQ and ftsI (pbpB or sep) are required for a later step or steps, and ftsA is required only for the latest stages in septation.

The complete Escherichia coli ftsQ coding sequence, together with part of the ftsA coding sequence, has been cloned upstream of the lacZ open reading frame in a lambda-vector (lambda JFL100). Cells which are lysogenic for lambda JFL100 transcribe the cloned lacZ from promoter(s) within the ftsQ and ftsA sequences. The level of beta-galactosidase produced is dependent on growth rate (and/or cell size) and is derepressed in an ftsA-deficient mutant. Transcription during the cell cycle is restricted to the time of cell division.

By comparing the dimensions and DNA contents of normal rod-shaped Escherichia coli with those of mutants that grow as spheres or ellipsoids, we have determined that two parameters remain unchanged: the DNA/mass ratio and the average cell length (diameter, for spherical cells). In consequence, the average volumes and DNA contents of the spherical mutant cells are about four to six times greater than those of rod-shaped cells growing at a similar rate. In addition, it was found that cells of both rod and sphere forms had approximately the same number of nucleoids (as seen when the DNA was condensed after inhibition of protein synthesis). The nucleoids of the spherical cells therefore consist of four to six completed chromosomes each (polytene nucleoids). We suggest that the attainment of a minimum cell length is necessary for nucleoid separation after chromosome replication and that such a separation is itself a prerequisite for septum formation.

We report the identification, cloning, and mapping of a new cell division gene, ftsQ. This gene formed part of a cluster of three division genes (in the order ftsQ ftsA ftsZ) which itself formed part of a larger cluster of at least 10 genes, all of which were involved in some step in cell division, cell envelope synthesis, or both. The ftsQAZ group was transcribed from at least two independent promoters.

In Escherichia coli, the products of several genes are required for septation, and the products of several others are required for the maintenance of the rod shape of the cells. We show here that the combination of certain mutations in a division gene (ftsI) with a specific mutation in one of the shape genes (rodA) could produce cells with normal shape and division, although separately these mutations led to a loss of the capacity to divide (ftsI) or to form normal rod-shaped cells (rodA). In contrast, combinations between other mutant alleles of these genes produced double mutants which had lost the capacity both to divide and to form rod-shaped cells. The mutual phenotypic correction observed within particular pairs of mutant genes suggests that the normal morphogenetic cycle of growth and division may require direct interaction between the two membrane proteins which are the products of these genes.

Eight independent temperature-sensitive mutants of the cell division protein FtsA have been studied. They fall into two classes in terms of their behaviour at 42 degrees C and recovery at 30 degrees C. The first class shows salt-dependent temperature-sensitivity and reversible inactivation of FtsA protein at 42 degrees C. The second shows irreversible inactivation which is not prevented by salt. Recovery of the ability to divide at 30 degrees C is rapid in mutants of the first group, but is delayed for approximately a generation time in the second group. This suggests that irreversible inactivation of FtsA causes extensive damage to the division machinery. The amino acid substitutions show clustering to a limited domain of the protein, and one particular substitution is found in three of the mutants.