Magnesium Modulates Bacillus subtilis Cell Division Frequency

Abstract

The signals that cells use to trigger cell division are unknown. Although division is often considered intrinsic to the cell cycle, microorganisms can continue to grow and repeat rounds of DNA replication without dividing, indicating that cycles of division can be skipped. Here, we show that by manipulating a single nutrient, namely, Mg 2+ , cell division can be uncoupled from the growth rate. This finding can be applied to investigate the nature of the cell division signal(s).