Structural studies of planctomycete Gemmata obscuriglobus support cell compartmentalisation in a bacterium

Evgeny Sagulenko; Garry P Morgan; Richard I Webb; Benjamin Yee; Kuo-Chang Lee; John A Fuerst

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091344

Structural studies of planctomycete Gemmata obscuriglobus support cell compartmentalisation in a bacterium

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 14;9(3):e91344. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091344. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Evgeny Sagulenko¹, Garry P Morgan², Richard I Webb², Benjamin Yee¹, Kuo-Chang Lee¹, John A Fuerst¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
² Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Abstract

Members of phylum Planctomycetes have been proposed to possess atypical cell organisation for the Bacteria, having a structure of sectioned cells consistent with internal compartments surrounded by membranes. Here via electron tomography we confirm the presence of compartments in the planctomycete Gemmata obscuriglobus cells. Resulting 3-D models for the most prominent structures, nuclear body and riboplasm, demonstrate their entirely membrane - enclosed nature. Immunogold localization of the FtsK protein also supports the internal organisation of G.obscuriglobus cells and their unique mechanism of cell division. We discuss how these new data expand our knowledge on bacterial cell biology and suggest evolutionary consequences of the findings.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
Cell Compartmentation*
Cell Wall / ultrastructure
Intracellular Space / metabolism
Planctomycetales / metabolism
Planctomycetales / ultrastructure*
Protein Transport

Substances

Bacterial Proteins

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) discovery grant number DP0881485. A PhD scholarship of B.Y. was supported by Dow Agrosciences, and that of K-C.L. by the University of Queensland. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.