Two different cell-cycle processes determine the timing of cell division in Escherichia coli

eLife

Gabriele Micali¹  Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino²  Louis Faure³  Alexandra Colin³  Sven van Teeffelen⁴ 

[1] Department of Environmental Microbiology, Dübendorf, Switzerland;Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland;IFOM, FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan, Italy;Physics Department, University of Milan, and INFN, Milan, Italy;Microbial Morphogenesis and Growth Laboratory, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France;Microbial Morphogenesis and Growth Laboratory, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France;Département de Microbiologie, Infectiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada;

关键词: cell cycle control;    cell division;    chromosome replication;    single-cell correlations;    live-cell microscopy;    theoretical modeling;    E. coli;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.67495

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Cells must control the cell cycle to ensure that key processes are brought to completion. In Escherichia coli, it is controversial whether cell division is tied to chromosome replication or to a replication-independent inter-division process. A recent model suggests instead that both processes may limit cell division with comparable odds in single cells. Here, we tested this possibility experimentally by monitoring single-cell division and replication over multiple generations at slow growth. We then perturbed cell width, causing an increase of the time between replication termination and division. As a consequence, replication became decreasingly limiting for cell division, while correlations between birth and division and between subsequent replication-initiation events were maintained. Our experiments support the hypothesis that both chromosome replication and a replication-independent inter-division process can limit cell division: the two processes have balanced contributions in non-perturbed cells, while our width perturbations increase the odds of the replication-independent process being limiting.

【 授权许可】

CC BY