Cell-wall remodelling drives engulfment during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis

To survive starvation, Bacillus subtilis forms durable spores. After asymmetric cell division, the septum grows around the forespore in a process called engulfment, but the mechanism of force generation is unknown. In this talk, I will report on our recent progress in understanding the engulfment process, using an integrative approach of time-lapse microscopy from the Pogliano lab at UC San Diego, image analysis, and molecular as well as physics-driven modelling from my group at Imperial College London. I will show that relatively simple principles of cell-wall remodelling can explain the observed dynamics of engulfment in wild-type and drug-treated cells.