Abstract
THERE is a strict correlation between DNA synthesis and cell division1,2 but there is no known relationship between cell division and membrane synthesis—presumably because so little is known about the latter. We have previously reported that the formation of cytochrome b1 and the L–α–glycerophosphate uptake system occurs at the same time (in a discontinuous manner) at a particular phase in a cell cycle of Escherichia coli (ref. 3). On the basis of these observations we attempted to isolate a phase-specific mutant which has a defect in the formation of membrane components. The selection of the mutants was carried out assuming that cell growth is temperature-sensitive and that the formation of the β-galactoside transport system is under the control of the corresponding ts-mutation. These assumptions were based on the observation that the formation of the transport system for β-galactoside, measured using a synchronous culture, completely coincided with those of many membrane components including cytochrome b1 (M.O., unpublished) and on the consideration that cells defective for such processes should be non-viable4.
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OHKI, M., MITSUI, H. Defective membrane synthesis in an E. coli mutant. Nature 252, 64–66 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252064a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/252064a0
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