Most bacteria are surrounded by a peptidoglycan cell wall that defines their shape and
protects them from osmotic lysis. The expansion and division of this structure therefore plays …

Proteins control many vital functions in living cells, such as cell growth and cell division.
Reliable coordination of these functions requires the spatial and temporal organization of …

Bactericidal antibiotics kill bacteria by perturbing various cellular targets and processes.
Disruption of the primary antibiotic-binding partner induces a cascade of molecular events …

During bacterial cell division, filaments of tubulin-like FtsZ form the Z-ring, which is the
cytoplasmic scaffold for divisome assembly. In Escherichia coli, the actin homologue FtsA …

MreB, the bacterial ancestor of eukaryotic actin, is responsible for shape in most rod-shaped
bacteria. Despite belonging to the actin family, the relevance of nucleotide-driven …

In vivo, bacterial actin MreB assembles into dynamic membrane-associated filamentous
structures that exhibit circumferential motion around the cell. Current knowledge of MreB …

Helical cell shape is necessary for efficient stomach colonization by Helicobacter pylori, but
the molecular mechanisms for generating helical shape remain unclear. The helical …

Mechanical rupture, or lysis, of the cytoplasmic membrane is a common cell death pathway
in bacteria occurring in response to β-lactam antibiotics. A better understanding of the …

One of the most common bacterial shapes is a rod, yet we have a limited understanding of
how this simple shape is constructed. While only six proteins are required for rod shape, we …

Peptidoglycan (PG) defines cell shape and protects bacteria against osmotic stress. The
growth and integrity of PG require coordinated actions between synthases that insert new …