Cell-type specific regulation of cell division during differentiation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Graduate Students Mini-Symposium

  • Date: Feb 13, 2017
  • Time: 02:25 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Samada Muraleedharan
  • MPI / Ecophysiology
  • Location: MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology
  • Room: Lecture hall
  • Host: Dr. Simon Ringgaard
  • Contact: simon.ringgaard@mpi-marburg.mpg.de

Bacteria undergo cycles of growth and cell division, and in order to generate progeny cells with full set of hereditary information bacteria need to control placement of the division site strictly. Cell division needs to be particularly tightly regulated in differentiating bacteria where changes between different cell morphologies increases the complexity. In liquid environments Vibrio parahaemolyticus exists as short rod-shaped swimmer cells with a single polar flagellum. Upon surface contact, differentiation to swarmer cells is initiated. The processes that direct differentiation, regulate cell division during differentiation, and regulate cell division during the swarmer cell cycle are uncharacterized. Here we have analyzed the developmental stage specific regulation of cell division in V. parahaemolyticus and identified ParC, a ParA-like protein, as a cell-type specific cell division regulator.

Go to Editor View