Assessment Of Protein-Protein Interactions In The Ftsblq Complex Using Fluorescence In Vitro

Cell division is an essential and challenging process in the bacteria life cycle. Bacterial cell division is performed by the divisome, a complex consisting primarily of membrane proteins. Three of such membrane proteins, FtsB, FtsL and FtsQ form a complex that is recruited during the middle stage of the assembly of the divisome. The FtsBLQ complex is essential for the recruitment of the downstream components that are responsible for the remodeling of the cell wall during cell division. The specific functional role of the FtsBLQ complex and the structural organization of the complex, however, are not yet well understood. To address this, we have developed a fluorescence-based assay to assess the interactions that stabilize the association of FtsQ to the preformed FtsBL complex in vitro. With such assay, we have been investigating how specific mutations affect the formation of the complex, as well as the possibility to disrupt the interaction by competition. Such approach could potentially lead to the developments of molecules that specifically target the FtsBLQ complex and control bacterial division.