Mechanisms of Bacterial Cell Division

Abstract

Despite numerous studies, gaps still remain in our understanding of bacterial cell division. This review describes the basic mechanisms responsible for division of the bacterial cell and coordination of this process in space and time. Attention is concentrated on such well-studied, model microorganisms as gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and gram-positive Bacillus subtilis. The hypothetical models of cell division of mycoplasmas which lack a cell wall and have lost most of the genes encoding the homologs of the known components of the bacterial divisome are also considered. Due to the fact that the bacterial division apparatus is a promising target for new antibiotics, the investigation of this process, apart from basic importance, is also of applied interest, and therefore is one of the priorities of modern molecular microbiology.