THE MIN LOCUS, WHICH CONFERS TOPOLOGICAL SPECIFICITY TO CELL-DIVISION, IS NOT INVOLVED IN ITS COUPLING WITH NUCLEOID SEPARATION

In Escherichia coli, nucleoid separation and cell constriction remain tightly linked when division is retarded by altering the level of synt hesis of the protein FtsZ. In this study, we have examined the role of the min locus, which is responsible for the inactivation of polar div ision sites, in the partition-septation coupling mechanism. We conclud e that the coupling persists in a Delta min strain and that its timing relative to replication remains dependent on the level of FtsZ synthe sis. We suggest that the retarded nucleoid segregation observed in min mutants is the result of this coupling in cells with a perturbed patt ern of nonpolar divisions.