Dynamic proteins in bacteria

Growth of the bacterial cell involves proteins that assemble into dynamic localized structures that are required for cellular morphogenesis and division. During the past year, the continued application of fluorescence microscopy has led to the discovery of novel actin-like filaments involved in cell shape and plasmid DNA segregation, and to new insights into the regulation and dynamics of the Z-ring. Studies on the Min proteins, which rapidly oscillate between the cell poles to spatially regulate Z-ring assembly, has led to a biochemical basis for the oscillation and a suggestion that MinD assembles into dynamic filaments. These studies further demonstrate that the eukaryotic cytoskeleton had its origins in bacteria.