Septal wall synthesis is sufficient to change ameba-like cells into uniform oval-shaped cells in Escherichia coli L-forms.

Abstract

A cell wall is required to control cell shape and size to maintain growth and division. However, some bacterial species maintain their morphology and size without a cell wall, calling into question the importance of the cell wall to maintain shape and size. It has been very difficult to examine the dispensability of cell wall synthesis in rod-shaped bacteria such as Escherichia coli for maintenance of their shape and size because they lyse without cell walls under normal culture conditions. Here, we show that wall-less E. coli L-form cells, which have a heterogeneous cell morphology, can be converted to a mostly uniform oval shape solely by FtsZ-dependent division, even in the absence of cylindrical cell wall synthesis. This FtsZ-dependent control of cell shape and size in the absence of a cell wall requires at least either the Min or nucleoid occlusion systems for positioning FtsZ at mid cell division sites.