Identification of new cell division genes in Escherichia coli by using extragenic suppressors

To facilitate the analysis of the cell division control apparatus in Escherichia coli, we studied extragenic suppressor mutations of a previously characterized temperature-sensitive division mutation, ftsM1. Cells of strain GD40 which harbor this mutation were spread on agar plates and incubated at 42 degrees C, and the surviving cells were analyzed for the presence of a suppressor mutation. One group of suppressed mutants had acquired a new mutation which, by conjugation, was found to be located in the 30- to 40-min region of the E. coli genetic map. The other group comprised revertants carrying a suppressor which appeared to map between thr and leu. This suppressor gene, called sftA, was cloned with a mini-Mu-derived in vivo cloning system by selection for suppression of temperature sensitivity in GD40 cells. Subsequent subcloning of a fragment of the chromosomal DNA from the mini-Mu plasmid into pBR325 resulted in the delineation of the suppressor gene on a 1.8-kilobase XhoI-PvuI fragment. A strain, CV514, which does not express the temperature sensitivity phenotype of the ftsM1 mutation, was found to harbor a natural suppressor of this mutation. UV sensitivity, another known phenotype of the ftsM1 mutation, was also corrected by the presence of the sftA suppressor in the cell. Thus, the characterization of extragenic suppressors may allow the identification of new genes involved in the control of cell division.