The ancestral tubulin homologue FtsZ is essential for cell division in almost all bacteria. FtsZ localises to the mid-cell as a dense band, known as the Z-ring, where it recruits and directs the cell wall synthesis proteins that build a mid-cell crosswall (septum).

Several years ago, we and others discovered that FtsZ filaments move around the cell surface by a type of motion known as treadmilling. This is where cytoskeleton filaments – actin being the best known example – move by plus end polymerization and minus end depolymerization.
I will discuss our progress towards understanding the functional role of FtsZ dynamics in bacterial cell division in the Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis.

Biography is here: warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/people/sholden