• The Birth of the FtsZ Ring

    Pic­tures Con­sid­ered #5 by Elio — The first cy­toskele­tal pro­tein dis­cov­ered in bac­te­ria was FtsZ, the tubu­lin-like maker of the con­trac­tile ring in­volved in cell di­vi­sion of most bac­te­ria. It was found by in­ves­ti­gat­ing one of a se­ries of Fts (for "Fil­a­ment­ingtem­per­a­ture sen­si­tive") con­di­tional mu­tants, first con­structed by Y. Hi­rota, A. Ry­ter and F. Ja­cob…