Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Giovanni Meacci
Max-Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems
Dresden
The Min-proteins play a decisive role in the correct selection of the divison site in Escherichia coli. For this purpose, pole-to-pole oscillations of these proteins are important. Here, a quantitative study, both theoretical and experimental, is presented. Experimentally, we characterize the Min-system measuring the temporal period of the oscillations as a function of the cell length, the time-averaged protein distribution and the in-vivo Min-protein mobility. Theoretically, we discuss deterministic and stochastic descriptions, where the interaction between membrane-bound proteins play a key role. Predictions and assumptions of our theoretical model are compatible with our experimental findings.