Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 18: Membranes and Vesicles I
BP 18.4: Talk
Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 10:30–10:45, H44
Curvature as a Mechanism for Biomolecule Localisation in Bacterial Cells — •Lars D. Renner1,2, Prahathess Eswaramoorthy3, Kumaran S. Ramamurthi3, Douglas B. Weibel2, and Gianaurelio Cuniberti1 — 1Institute for Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany — 2University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA — 3National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
One of the central questions in cell biology is how the temporal and spatial organization of the cell machinery within the cell is established, maintained, and replicated. In Eubacteria, an understanding of the cellular organization of proteins is just beginning to take shape. Recent data suggests that there are geometric cues for the localization of proteins and lipids in bacteria. We found that microdomains of cardiolipin (CL) preferentially localize to regions of large, negative curvature. We use a top-down approach that combines in vivo and in vitro experiments with E. coli and B. subtilis cells. We find that a critical difference in the radius of curvature ΔC (curvature difference between cell poles and midcell) of approx. 0.5 µm−1 is required to drive the polar localization of MinD and DivIVA. Our data provides support for curvature as a general mechanism for regulating the spatial organization in bacterial membranes. This research expands our understanding of Eubacterial cell biology and provides insight into the spatial and temporal dynamics of membranes and their role in cell biology.