Characterization of Acholeplasma laidlawii ftsZ gene and its gene product

The ftsZ gene was found among representatives of all bacterial groups. FtsZ protein is an essential component of cell division ring. Contraction of th is cytoskeleton-like ring is believed to be the universal way of bacterial division. Acholeplasma laidlawii possesses all features of the minimal myco plasma cell and some traits of cell-wall bacteria and seems to be a promisi ng object for study of basic principles of the bacterial division process. We cloned an A. Laidlawii chromosomal fragment containing ftsZ gene and two flanking orf which also were identified. A. laidlawii FtsZ protein has bee n determined with polyclonal antibodies raised in rabbit. It was demonstrat ed that ftsZ gene of A. laidlawii could be expressed in E. coli cells. We a lso revealed that A. laidlawii FtsZ had a low similarity to proteins of Myc oplasma genitalium and M. pneumoniae. The comparison of FtsZ structures may be used for investigation of bacterial phylogenetic relations. (C) 1999 Ac ademic Press.