The proper ratio of FtsZ to FtsA is required for cell division to occur in Escherichia coli.

Interactions among cell division genes in Escherichia coli were investigated by examining the effect on cell division of increasing the expression of the ftsZ, ftsA, or ftsQ genes. We determined that cell division was quite sensitive to the levels of FtsZ and FtsA but much less so to FtsQ. Inhibition of cell division due to an increase in FtsZ could be suppressed by an increase in FtsA. Inhibition of cell division due to increased FtsA could be suppressed by an increase in FtsZ. In addition, although wild-type strains were relatively insensitive to overexpression of ftsQ, we observed that cell division was sensitized to ftsQ overexpression in ftsI, ftsA, and ftsZ mutants. Among these, the ftsI mutant was the most sensitive. These results suggest that these gene products may interact and that the proper ratio of FtsZ to FtsA is critical for cell division to occur.