Publications [#113088] of Harold P. Erickson

Papers Published

1. J Stricker, P Maddox, ED Salmon, HP Erickson, Rapid assembly dynamics of the Escherichia coli FtsZ-ring demonstrated by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 99 no. 5 (March, 2002), pp. 3171-5, ISSN 0027-8424 [doi]
   (last updated on 2013/05/16)

   Abstract:
   FtsZ, the major cytoskeletal component of the bacterial cell-division machine, assembles into a ring (the Z-ring) that contracts at septation. FtsZ is a bacterial homolog of tubulin, with similar tertiary structure, GTP hydrolysis, and in vitro assembly. We used green fluorescent protein-labeled FtsZ and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching to show that the E. coli Z-ring is extremely dynamic, continually remodeling itself with a half-time of 30 s. ZipA, a membrane protein involved in cell division that colocalizes with FtsZ, was equally dynamic. The Z-ring of the mutant ftsZ84, which has 1/10 the guanosine triphosphatase activity of wild-type FtsZ in vitro, showed a 9-fold slower turnover in vivo. This finding implies that assembly dynamics are determined primarily by GTP hydrolysis. Despite the greatly reduced assembly dynamics, the ftsZ84 cells divide with a normal cell-cycle time.

   Keywords:
   Bacterial Proteins • Carrier Proteins • Cell Cycle Proteins • Cytoskeletal Proteins* • Escherichia coli • Escherichia coli Proteins* • Fluorescence • Green Fluorescent Proteins • Luminescent Proteins • Recombinant Fusion Proteins • Time Factors • genetics • metabolism • metabolism*