Loss of Bacterial Cell Pole Stabilization in Caulobacter crescentus Sensitizes to Outer Membrane Stress and Peptidoglycan-Directed Antibiotics.

Rod-shaped bacteria frequently localize proteins to one or both cell poles in order to regulate processes such as chromosome replication or polar organelle development. However, the roles of polar factors in responses to extracellular stimuli have been generally unexplored. We employed chemical-genetic screening to probe the interaction between one such factor from , TipN, and extracellular stress and found that TipN is required for normal resistance of cell envelope-directed antibiotics, including vancomycin which does not normally inhibit growth of Gram-negative bacteria.