Septum site placement in - identification and characterisation of mycobacterial homologues of MinD.

A major virulence trait of () is its ability to enter a dormant state within its human host. Since cell division is intimately linked to metabolic shut down, understanding the mechanism of septum formation and its integration with other events in the division pathway is likely to offer clues to the molecular basis of dormancy. The genome lacks obvious homologues of several conserved cell division proteins, and this study was aimed at identifying and functionally characterising mycobacterial homologues of the septum site specification protein MinD ( MinD).

Identification and functional annotation of mycobacterial septum formation genes using cell division mutants of Escherichia coli.

The major virulence trait of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is its ability to enter a latent state in the face of robust host immunity. Clues to the molecular basis of latency can emerge from understanding the mechanism of cell division, beginning with identification of proteins involved in this process. Using complementation of Escherichia coli mutants, we functionally annotated M.