PROSITE documentation PDOC00873FtsZ protein signatures
In bacteria, ftsZ [1,2] is an essential cell division protein involved in cytokinesis. It assembles into a ring on the inner surface of the cytoplasmic membrane at the place where division will occur. The ring serves as a scaffold that is disassembled when septation is completed. FtsZ is a GTP binding protein with a GTPase activity. It undergoes GTP-dependent polymerization into filaments (or tubules) that seem to form a cytoskeleton involved in septum synthesis.
FtsZ is a protein of about 400 residues which is well conserved across bacterial species and which is also present in the chloroplast of plants [3] as well as in archaebacteria [4]. FtsZ shows a limited similarity with eukaryotic tubulins. This similarity is probably both evolutionary and functionally significant.
As signature patterns we selected two glycine-rich conserved regions. The second region is equivalent to the GTP-binding region of tubulins (see <PDOC00199>).
Last update:December 2004 / Patterns and text revised.
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PROSITE methods (with tools and information) covered by this documentation:
| 1 | Authors | Lutkenhaus J. |
| Title | FtsZ ring in bacterial cytokinesis. | |
| Source | Mol. Microbiol. 9:403-409(1993). | |
| PubMed ID | 8412689 |
| 2 | Authors | Erickson H.P. |
| Title | FtsZ, a prokaryotic homolog of tubulin? | |
| Source | Cell 80:367-370(1995). | |
| PubMed ID | 7859278 |
| 3 | Authors | Osteryoung K.W. Vierling E. |
| Title | Conserved cell and organelle division. | |
| Source | Nature 376:473-474(1995). | |
| PubMed ID | 7637778 | |
| DOI | 10.1038/376473b0 |
| 4 | Authors | Margolin W. Wang R. Kumar M. |
| Title | Isolation of an ftsZ homolog from the archaebacterium Halobacterium salinarium: implications for the evolution of FtsZ and tubulin. | |
| Source | J. Bacteriol. 178:1320-1327(1996). | |
| PubMed ID | 8631708 |
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