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Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources

The decision to divide is the most important one that any cell must make. Recent single cell studies suggest that most bacteria follow an “adder” model of cell size control, incorporating a fixed amount of cell wall material before dividing. Mycobacteria, including the causative agent of tuberculosi...

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Autores principales: Priestman, Miles, Thomas, Philipp, Robertson, Brian D., Shahrezaei, Vahid
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5506092/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28748182
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2017.00064
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author Priestman, Miles
Thomas, Philipp
Robertson, Brian D.
Shahrezaei, Vahid
author_facet Priestman, Miles
Thomas, Philipp
Robertson, Brian D.
Shahrezaei, Vahid
author_sort Priestman, Miles
collection PubMed
description The decision to divide is the most important one that any cell must make. Recent single cell studies suggest that most bacteria follow an “adder” model of cell size control, incorporating a fixed amount of cell wall material before dividing. Mycobacteria, including the causative agent of tuberculosis Mycobacterium tuberculosis, are known to divide asymmetrically resulting in heterogeneity in growth rate, doubling time, and other growth characteristics in daughter cells. The interplay between asymmetric cell division and adder size control has not been extensively investigated. Moreover, the impact of changes in the environment on growth rate and cell size control have not been addressed for mycobacteria. Here, we utilize time-lapse microscopy coupled with microfluidics to track live Mycobacterium smegmatis cells as they grow and divide over multiple generations, under a variety of growth conditions. We demonstrate that, under optimal conditions, M. smegmatis cells robustly follow the adder principle, with constant added length per generation independent of birth size, growth rate, and inherited pole age. However, the nature of the carbon source induces deviations from the adder model in a manner that is dependent on pole age. Understanding how mycobacteria maintain cell size homoeostasis may provide crucial targets for the development of drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis, which remains a leading cause of global mortality.
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spelling pubmed-55060922017-07-26 Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources Priestman, Miles Thomas, Philipp Robertson, Brian D. Shahrezaei, Vahid Front Cell Dev Biol Cell and Developmental Biology The decision to divide is the most important one that any cell must make. Recent single cell studies suggest that most bacteria follow an “adder” model of cell size control, incorporating a fixed amount of cell wall material before dividing. Mycobacteria, including the causative agent of tuberculosis Mycobacterium tuberculosis, are known to divide asymmetrically resulting in heterogeneity in growth rate, doubling time, and other growth characteristics in daughter cells. The interplay between asymmetric cell division and adder size control has not been extensively investigated. Moreover, the impact of changes in the environment on growth rate and cell size control have not been addressed for mycobacteria. Here, we utilize time-lapse microscopy coupled with microfluidics to track live Mycobacterium smegmatis cells as they grow and divide over multiple generations, under a variety of growth conditions. We demonstrate that, under optimal conditions, M. smegmatis cells robustly follow the adder principle, with constant added length per generation independent of birth size, growth rate, and inherited pole age. However, the nature of the carbon source induces deviations from the adder model in a manner that is dependent on pole age. Understanding how mycobacteria maintain cell size homoeostasis may provide crucial targets for the development of drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis, which remains a leading cause of global mortality. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-07-12 /pmc/articles/PMC5506092/ /pubmed/28748182 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2017.00064 Text en Copyright © 2017 Priestman, Thomas, Robertson and Shahrezaei. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Cell and Developmental Biology
Priestman, Miles
Thomas, Philipp
Robertson, Brian D.
Shahrezaei, Vahid
Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources
title Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources
title_full Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources
title_fullStr Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources
title_full_unstemmed Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources
title_short Mycobacteria Modify Their Cell Size Control under Sub-Optimal Carbon Sources
title_sort mycobacteria modify their cell size control under sub-optimal carbon sources
topic Cell and Developmental Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5506092/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28748182
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2017.00064
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