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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 9: Physics of Cells I

BP 9.3: Vortrag

Dienstag, 23. März 2010, 10:15–10:30, H43

Structure formation of the bacterial cytoskeletal protein FtsZ - a theoretical study — •Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich, Roie Shlomovitz, and Nir Gov — Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, P.O.B. 26, Rehovot 76100, Israel

The bacterial protein FtsZ polymerizes and attaches to the inner site of the bacterial membrane in a ring-shaped struture. This FtsZ ring marks the future site of the septum of bacterial cell division. Membrane located FtsZ structures have also been reported to occur in a helical shape, neighboring the Ftsz ring in a normally dividing cell, or during the process of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. The mechanism behind FtsZ assembly and structure formation as well as switching between ring and helix structures remains obscure. Here, we examine the process of structure formation theoretically using a coarse-grained model to describe FtsZ densities on the membrane and taking into account a spontaneous curvature of FtsZ polymers.