Maintenance of the Cell Morphology by MinC in Helicobacter pylori

In the model organism Escherichia coli, Min proteins are involved in regulating the division of septa formation. The computational genome analysis of Helicobacter pylori, a gram-negative microaerophilic bacterium causing gastritis and peptic ulceration, also identified MinC, MinD, and MinE. However, MinC (HP1053) shares a low identity with those of other bacteria and its function in H. pylori remains unclear. In this study, we used morphological and genetic approaches to examine the molecular role of MinC. The results were shown that an H. pylori mutant lacking MinC forms filamentous cells, while the wild-type strain retains the shape of short rods. In addition, a minC mutant regains the short rods when complemented with an intact minC(Hp) gene. The overexpression of MinC(Hp) in E. coli did not affect the growth and cell morphology. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that MinC(Hp) forms helix-form structures in H. pylori, whereas MinC(Hp) localizes at cell poles and pole of new daughter cell in E. coli. In addition, co-immunoprecipitation showed MinC can interact with MinD but not with FtsZ during mid-exponential stage of H. pylori. Altogether, our results show that MinC(Hp) plays a key role in maintaining proper cell morphology and its function differs from those of MinC(Ec).