RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Multicellular growth and sporulation in filamentous actinobacteria require the conserved cell division protein SepX
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.06.12.448176
DO 10.1101/2021.06.12.448176
A1 Matthew J. Bush
A1 Kelley A. Gallagher
A1 Govind Chandra
A1 Kim C. Findlay
A1 Susan Schlimpert
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/12/2021.06.12.448176.abstract
AB Filamentous actinobacteria like Streptomyces undergo two distinct modes of cell division, leading to the partitioning of growing hyphae into multicellular compartments via cross-walls and to the septation and release of unicellular spores. While some progress has been made towards the regulation of sporulation-specific cell division, specific determinants for cross-wall formation and the importance of hyphal compartmentalization for Streptomyces development have remained unknown. Here we describe SepX, an actinobacterial-specific protein that is crucial for both cell division events in Streptomyces. We show that sepX-deficient mutants grow without cross-walls and that this substantially impairs the fitness of colonies and the coordinated progression through the developmental life cycle. Protein interaction studies and live-cell imaging suggest that SepX functions to spatially stabilize the divisome, a mechanism that also requires the dynamin-like protein DynB. Collectively, this work identifies an important determinant for cell division in filamentous actinobacteria that is required for multicellular development and sporulation.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.