Abstract
In the recent decade, our view of the sub-cellular organization of bacterial cells has been revolutionizedby the application of modern cell biology methods. Cytoskeletal proteins that are precisely targeted tospecific cellular locations and that assemble in dynamic filamentous structures have been discovered. Moreover,most bacterial species contain homologous proteins of eukaryotic tubulin and actin, which, like in eukaryotes,have functions in cell shape maintenance, cell division, DNA movement or alignment of organelles. Additionalcytoskeletal elements are present in bacterial species with more complex cell shapes, e.g., in the curvedCaulobacter crescentus. Cell wall-free Mollicutes contain cytoskeletalproteins for maintaining their cell shape and for motility.
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© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Vollmer, W. (2006). Cytoskeletal Elements in Prokaryotes. In: Shively, J.M. (eds) Complex Intracellular Structures in Prokaryotes. Microbiology Monographs, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/7171_029
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7171_029
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