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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Three-dimensional Imaging of Bacterial Cells for Accurate Cellular Representations and Precise Protein Localization
Published on: October 29, 2019
Overview of cell shape: cytoskeletons shape bacterial cells
Sebastien Pichoff1, Joe Lutkenhaus
1University of Kansas Medical Center, Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology, 39th and Rainbow Blvd, Kansas City, KS 66160, United States.
Abstract:
An evolving hypothesis is that bacterial cell shape is determined by cytoskeletal elements that localize peptidoglycan synthetic machineries. In most bacteria FtsZ assembles into the Z ring which recruits the machinery necessary for cytokinesis. Most rod shaped cells require MreB which assembles into cables that run between the poles of the cell and distribute various components of peptidoglycan metabolism along the cell length. Cells with other shapes have additional cytoskeletal elements that either localize synthetic machineries or possibly influence their activity.
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