FtsZ bacterial cytoskeletal polymers on curved surfaces: the importance of lateral interactions

¹ Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
² Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
³ Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marisela.velez{at}uam.es.

Submitted on December 22, 2007
Revised on February 18, 2008
Accepted on 7 March 2008

	Abstract

A recent theoretical paper provided a mechanical explanation for the formation of cytoskeletal rings and helices in bacteria assuming that these shapes arise, at least in part, from the interaction of the inherent mechanical properties of the protein polymers and the constraints imposed by the curved cell membrane. (S. Andrews and Adam P. Arkin, 2007, Biophys J 93,1872-1884 ). Due to the lack of experimental data regarding the bending rigidity and preferential bond angles of bacterial polymers, the authors explored their model over wide ranges of preferred curvature values. In this letter we present the shape diagram of the FtsZ bacterial polymer on a curved surface but now including recent experimental data on the in vitro formed FtsZ polymers. The lateral interactions between filaments observed experimentally change qualitatively the shape diagram and indicate that the formation of rings over spirals is more energetically favoured than estimated in the above mentioned paper.

Key Words: FtsZ ring, bacterial cytoskeleton, curved surface, lateral interactions, polymer shape

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Srinivasan, M. Mishra, L. Wu, Z. Yin, and M. K. Balasubramanian The bacterial cell division protein FtsZ assembles into cytoplasmic rings in fission yeast Genes & Dev., July 1, 2008; 22(13): 1741 - 1746. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]