General principles for the formation and proliferation of a wall-free (L-form) state in bacteria

Author:

Mercier Romain1,Kawai Yoshikazu1,Errington Jeff1

Affiliation:

1. Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Abstract

The peptidoglycan cell wall is a defining structural feature of the bacterial kingdom. Curiously, some bacteria have the ability to switch to a wall-free or ‘L-form’ state. Although known for decades, the general properties of L-forms are poorly understood, largely due to the lack of systematic analysis of L-forms in the molecular biology era. Here we show that inhibition of peptidoglycan precursor synthesis promotes the generation of L-forms from both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We show that the L-forms generated have in common a mechanism of proliferation involving membrane blebbing and tubulation, which is dependent on an altered rate of membrane synthesis. Crucially, this mode of proliferation is independent of the essential FtsZ based division machinery. Our results suggest that the L-form mode of proliferation is conserved across the bacterial kingdom, reinforcing the idea that it could have been used in primitive cells, and opening up its use in the generation of synthetic cells.

Funder

European Research Council

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

Subject

General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine,General Neuroscience

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