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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 279, Issue 47, 48821-48829, November 19, 2004

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FtsZ Fiber Bundling Is Triggered by a Conformational Change in Bound GTP^*

Rachel Marrington¶, Elaine Small||, Alison Rodger, Timothy R. Dafforn**, and Stephen G. Addinall||

From the Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, ^||School of Biological Sciences, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, and ^**Department of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Polymer formation by the essential FtsZ protein plays a crucial role in the cytokinesis of most prokaryotes. Lateral associations between these FtsZ polymers to form bundles or sheets are widely predicted to be extremely important for FtsZ function in vivo. We have carried out a study in vitro of FtsZ polymer formation and bundling using linear dichroism (LD) to assess structural properties of the polymers. We demonstrate proof-of-principle experiments to show that LD can be used as a technique to follow FtsZ polymerization, and we present the LD spectra of FtsZ polymers. Our subsequent examination of FtsZ polymer bundling induced by calcium reveals a substantial increase in the LD signal indicative of increased polymer length and rigidity. We also detect a specific conformational change in the guanine moiety associated with bundling, whereas the conformation and configuration of the FtsZ monomers within the polymer remain largely unchanged. We demonstrate that other divalent cations can induce this conformational change in FtsZ-bound GTP coincident with polymer bundling. Therefore, we present "flipping" of the guanine moiety in FtsZ-bound GTP as a mechanism that explains the link between reduced GTPase activity, increased polymer stability, and polymer bundling.

Received for publication, May 4, 2004 , and in revised form, August 23, 2004.

^* The work was funded in part by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Swindon, United Kingdom Grant REI120503 and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Grant GR/M91105. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Both authors contributed equally to this work.

^¶ Funded by Syngenta.

A Wellcome Career Development Fellow.

A Medical Research Council Career Development Fellow. To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 44-121-414-5881; E-mail: T.R.Dafforn{at}bham.ac.uk.

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