From maltose to cell division

Seeing connections between apparently unrelated areas is the hallmark of a deep thinker. Maurice Hofnung showed that his interest in the maltose regulon and my own interest in the regulation of cell division in Escherichia coli could lead to fruitful collaboration. From the maltose regulon to the LamB receptor to phage A to the SOS response to the Mutatest to induction of expression of the SOS-inducible division inhibitor SfiA to the SOS Chromotest based on sfiA::lacZ induction to the development of a commercial kit for measuring the genotoxicity of environmental substances...this was but one of the original trails that Maurice Hofnung blazed and exploited successfully.