DIVISION POTENTIAL IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI

The phenotype of a minC mutant has been reexamined and found to corres pond closely to the quantitative predictions of Teather et al. (R. M. Teather, J. F. Collins, and W. D. Donachie, J. Bacteriol. 118:407-413, 1974). We confirm that the number of septa formed per generation per cell length is fixed and independent of the number of available divisi on sites and that ''division potential'' is directly proportional to c ell length, In the minC mutant, septa form with equal probabilities at cell poles, cell centers, and cell quarters, In addition, we show tha t the time to next division is inversely related to cell length while division is asynchronous in long cells, suggesting that a single cell can form only one septum at a time.