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Bacteria have remarkably robust cell shape control mechanisms. For example, cell diameter only varies by a few percent across a population. MreB is necessary for establishment and maintenance of rod shape although the mechanism of shape control remains unknown. We perturbed MreB in two complimentary ways to produce steady-state cell diameters over a wide range, from 790+/-30 nm to 1700+/-20 nm. To determine which properties of MreB are important for diameter control, we correlated structural characteristics of fluorescently-tagged MreB polymers with cell diameter by simultaneously analyzing 3-dimensional images of MreB and cell shape. Our results indicate that the pitch angle of MreB inversely correlates with cell diameter. Other correlations are not found to be significant. These results demonstrate that the physical properties of MreB filaments are important for shape control and support a model in which MreB dictates cell diameter and organizes cell wall growth to produce a chiral cell wall.
Organisms must acquire and use environmental information to guide their behaviors. However, it is unclear whether and how information quantitatively limits behavioral performance. Here, we relate information to behavioral performance in Escherichia c
This paper reports X-ray microtomographic visualization of the microorganism Escherichia coli overexpressing a metalloprotein ferritin. The three-dimensional distribution of linear absorption coefficients determined using a synchrotron radiation micr
Collective cell migration is crucial in many biological processes such as wound healing, tissue morphogenesis, and tumor progression. The leading front of a collective migrating epithelial cell layer often destabilizes into multicellular finger-like
Adhesive cell-substrate interactions are crucial for cell motility and are responsible for the necessary traction that propels cells. These interactions can also change the shape of the cell, analogous to liquid droplet wetting on adhesive substrates
In embryonic development, programmed cell shape changes are essential for building functional organs, but in many cases the mechanisms that precisely regulate these changes remain unknown. We propose that fluid-like drag forces generated by the motio