Dresden 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 14: Poster Session II
BP 14.51: Poster
Dienstag, 10. März 2026, 18:00–21:00, P2
Equal Partitioning of the Min Proteins at Cell Division — •Natan Dominko Kobilica1, Nora Deiringer2, Vitalii Grigorev3, Antonia Winter1, Robin Köhler4, Sean Murray5, Viktor Sourjik3, Henrik Weyer6, and Erwin Frey1 — 1ASC, LMU München, Munich, Germany — 2Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany — 3Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany — 4Geomagic, Leipzig, Germany — 5IMESO-IT, Giessen, Germany — 6Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA
The pole-to-pole oscillation of the Min proteins in Escherichia coli plays a crucial role in the process of cell division. The oscillation facilitates the formation of the FtsZ ring, which determines the division site. It is essential that the Min proteins are distributed equally between daughter cells to ensure precise determination of the division site in subsequent divisions. Previously, experiments and stochastic particle-based simulations have linked protein equipartition to the splitting of the pole-to-pole oscillation. Importantly, the splitting is already triggered before the division is fully completed. The goal of this study is to explain the mechanism underlying the splitting of oscillations using the well-known reaction-diffusion equations for the Min System. We model the constriction during cell division as a reduced diffusion rate between the two parts of the mother cell. This already captures the oscillation splitting and agrees well with realistic simulations of the constricting cell. Additionally, we conduct high-throughput microfluidic experiments which align well with the predicted protein dynamics.
Keywords: Min proteins; oscillation dynamics; escherichia coli; reaction diffusion equations; cell division