Involvement of DivIVA in the morphology of the rod-shaped actinomycete Brevibacterium lactofermentum

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Abstract
In Brevibacterium lactofermentum, as in many Gram-positive bacteria, a divIVA gene is located downstream from the dcw cluster of cell-division- and cell-wall-related genes. This gene (divIVABL) is mostly expressed during exponential growth, and the protein encoded, DivIVABL, bears some sequence similarity to antigen 84 (Ag84) from mycobacteria and was detected with monoclonal antibodies against Ag84. Disruption experiments using an internal fragment of the divIVABL gene or a disrupted divIVABL cloned in a suicide conjugative plasmid were unsuccessful, suggesting that the divIVABL gene is needed for cell viability in Brev. lactofermentum. Transformation of Brev. lactofermentum with a multicopy plasmid containing divIVABL drastically altered the morphology of the corynebacterial cells, which became larger and bulkier, and a GFP fusion to DivIVABL mainly localized to the ends of corynebacterial cells. This localization pattern, together with the overproduction phenotype, suggests that DivIVA may be important in regulating the apical growth of daughter cells.

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