Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (iGE3), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Laboratory of Experimental Biophysics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom
Matthieu Bergé
Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (iGE3), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Gaël Panis
Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (iGE3), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Ezgi Eroglu
Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (iGE3), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Laurence Théraulaz
Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (iGE3), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Suliana Manley
Laboratory of Experimental Biophysics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (iGE3), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Protein polarization underlies differentiation in metazoans and in bacteria. How symmetric polarization can instate functional asymmetry remains elusive. Here, we show by super-resolution photo-activated localization microscopy and edgetic mutations that the bitopic zinc-finger protein ZitP implements specialized developmental functions – pilus biogenesis and multifactorial swarming motility – while shaping distinct nanoscale (bi)polar architectures in the asymmetric model bacterium Caulobacter crescentus. Polar assemblage and accumulation of ZitP and its effector protein CpaM are orchestrated in time and space by conserved components of the cell cycle circuitry that coordinate polar morphogenesis with cell cycle progression, and also act on the master cell cycle regulator CtrA. Thus, this novel class of potentially widespread multifunctional polarity regulators is deeply embedded in the cell cycle circuitry.
