iScience
Volume 4, 29 June 2018, Pages 180-189
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Article
Constriction Rate Modulation Can Drive Cell Size Control and Homeostasis in C. crescentus

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2018.05.020Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Perturbing constriction rate changes cell length

  • Faster constriction rate results in blunter cell poles

  • Early constriction rate modulation balances elongation before and during constriction

  • We propose that constriction rate is set by the accumulation of precursors during elongation

Summary

Rod-shaped bacteria typically grow first via sporadic and dispersed elongation along their lateral walls and then via a combination of zonal elongation and constriction at the division site to form the poles of daughter cells. Although constriction comprises up to half of the cell cycle, its impact on cell size control and homeostasis has rarely been considered. To reveal the roles of cell elongation and constriction in bacterial size regulation during cell division, we captured the shape dynamics of Caulobacter crescentus with time-lapse structured illumination microscopy and used molecular markers as cell-cycle landmarks. We perturbed the constriction rate using a hyperconstriction mutant or fosfomycin ([(2R,3S)-3-methyloxiran-2-yl]phosphonic acid) inhibition. We report that the constriction rate contributes to both size control and homeostasis, by determining elongation during constriction and by compensating for variation in pre-constriction elongation on a single-cell basis.

Subject Areas

Microbiology
Microbial Physiology
Microbial Cell Structure

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These authors contributed equally

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