ABSTRACT
Most Bacteria and Archaea cells accumulate biomass until a critical volume is reached when they divide into two identical daughter cells. This division occurs in a single plane of symmetry. To some extent division dictates the simplicity in cell shape (SECTION C2) and the prevalence of cell numbers of 2n when cells appear in chains or clusters. The link of binary fission to cell growth calculations is discussed in SECTION D1. The process of cell division is outlined in Figure 1 and can be divided into four steps: growth and replication; FtsK ring construction and chromosome separation; FtsK ring constriction and septation; and lastly cell separation. The process is poorly understood, involving many proteins and an extremely efficient control system. A central role is played by FtsK, a structural and functional analog of the eukaryotic tubulins. FtsK was named after the filamentous temperature-sensitive mutants that were first recognized in E. coli. At some Bacterial cell division https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429212864/e777b696-9765-4717-ae46-79501f68b3b7/content/fig1_C9.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> 58 temperatures mutants were unable to septate and became long, multinucleate filaments, a phenomenon seen in some wild-type lactobacilli and in Streptomyces.
