The rate and topography of cell wall synthesis during the division cycle of Escherichia coli using N-acetylglucosamine as a peptidoglycan label.

The rates of synthesis of peptidoglycan and protein during the division cycle of Escherichia coli were measured by the membrane elution technique using cells differentially labelled with N-acetylglucosamine and leucine. During the first part of the division cycle the ratio of the rates of protein and peptidoglycan synthesis was constant. The rate of peptidoglycan synthesis, relative to the rate of protein synthesis, increased during the latter part of the division cycle. These results support a simple, bipartite model of cell surface increase in rod-shaped cells. Prior to the start of constriction the cell surface increases only by lateral wall extension. After cell constriction starts, the cell surface increases by both lateral wall and pole growth. The increase in surface area is partitioned between the lateral wall and the pole so that the volume of the cell increases exponentially. No variation in cell density occurs, because the increase in surface allows a continuous exponential increase in cell volume that accommodates the exponential increase in cell mass. The results are consistent with the constant density of the growing cell and the surface stress model for the regulation of cell surface synthesis. In addition, the elution pattern suggests that the membrane elution method does work by having the cells effectively bound to the membrane by their poles.