期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1990
卷号:87
期号:3
页码:1129-1133
DOI:10.1073/pnas.87.3.1129
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:In Escherichia coli, selection of the proper division site at midcell requires the specific inhibition of septation at two other potential division sites, located at each of the cell poles. This site-specific inhibition of septation is mediated by the gene products of the minicell locus (the minB operon) that includes three genes, minC, minD, and minE. In this paper we show that one of the components of this division-inhibition system, the minC gene product, is also an essential component of another division-inhibition system, which is induced by derepression of the dicB gene and leads to inhibition of septation at all potential division sites. The two minC-dependent division-inhibition systems could be functionally distinguished by their different responses to the minE gene product. The results suggest a model in which a common mechanism, mediated by MinC, is responsible for the division block in a class of division-inhibition systems that can be independently activated by different proteins that determine the specific properties of these systems.