Zhifang Lu, Shengnan Han, Shaoyuan Yang, Hairun Pei Yingying Xu, Qingzhan Yang, Qianyi Wang, Jimin Zheng and Zongchao Jia
It was previously shown that DicB interacts with MinC and functions to inhibit cell division. Here in we created various N-terminal truncation constructs in which up to ~36 residues were removed but retained binding ability to MinC. We investigated the role of DicB in different physiological environments by monitoring the growth of E. coli in high salt environment and in the presence of an acylampicillin antibiotic (Azlocillin). Our results revealed that DicB helps E. coli to cope with the high salt stress by impeding cell division. Under alkaline conditions, the inhibitory effect of DicB/MinC-DicB on E. coli cell division was also enhanced. Taken together, our work hasshed further lights on the function of DicB which has largely remained elusive.
