The most common prokaryotic signal transduction mechanisms are the one-component
systems in which a single polypeptide contains both a sensory domain and a DNA-binding …

Ancestral homologues of the major eukaryotic cytoskeletal families, tubulin and actin, play
critical roles in cytokinesis of bacterial cells. FtsZ is the ancestral homologue of tubulin and …

Endospore formation in Bacillus subtilis provides an ideal model system for studying
development in bacteria. Sporulation studies have contributed a wealth of information about …

Bacillus subtilis is the best described member of the Gram positive bacteria. It is a typical rod
shaped bacterium and grows by elongation in its long axis, before dividing at mid cell to …

Asymmetries in cell growth and division occur in eukaryotes and prokaryotes alike. Even
seemingly simple and morphologically symmetric cell division processes belie inherent …

Highlights•Nucleoid occlusion prevents cell division over the bacterial chromosome.•
Nucleoid occlusion factors identified in B. subtilis, E. coli and S. aureus.•Noc and SlmA are …

Sporulation in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis is a developmental program in which a
progenitor cell differentiates into two different cell types, the smaller of which eventually …

SMC complexes, loaded at ParB-parS sites, are key mediators of chromosome organization
in bacteria. ParA/Soj proteins interact with ParB/Spo0J in a pathway involving adenosine …

In most bacteria cell division is driven by the prokaryotic tubulin homolog, FtsZ, which forms
the cytokinetic Z ring. Cell survival demands both the spatial and temporal accuracy of this …

Probably one of the most controversial questions about the cell division of Bacillus subtilis, a
rod-shaped bacterium, concerns the mechanism that ensures correct division septum …