imprint:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2008
Published in:Science
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1126/science.1154413
ISSN:
0036-8075;
1095-9203
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>
In the bacterium
<jats:italic>Escherichia coli</jats:italic>
, the Min proteins oscillate between the cell poles to select the cell center as division site. This dynamic pattern has been proposed to arise by self-organization of these proteins, and several models have suggested a reaction-diffusion type mechanism. Here, we found that the Min proteins spontaneously formed planar surface waves on a flat membrane in vitro. The formation and maintenance of these patterns, which extended for hundreds of micrometers, required adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP), and they persisted for hours. We present a reaction-diffusion model of the MinD and MinE dynamics that accounts for our experimental observations and also captures the in vivo oscillations.
</jats:p>