Synchronization of chromosome dynamics and cell division in bacteria. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2:a000331

Bacterial cells have evolved a variety of regulatory circuits that tightly synchronize their chromosome replication and cell division cycles, thereby ensuring faithful transmission of genetic information to their offspring. Complex multicomponent signaling cascades are used tomonitor the progress of cytokinesis and couple replication initiation to the separation of the two daughter cells. Moreover, the cell-division apparatus actively participates in chromosome partitioning and, particularly, in the resolution of topological problems that impede the segregation process, thus coordinating chromosomedynamicswith cell constric-tion. Finally, bacteria have developed mechanisms that harness the cell-cycle-dependent positioning of individual chromosomal loci or the nucleoid to define the cell-division site and control the timing of divisome assembly. Each of these systems manages to integrate a complex set of spatial and temporal cues to regulate and execute critical steps in the bacterial cell cycle. In recent years, considerable progress has beenmade in understanding the cell biology of bacteria and, in particular, the organization and dynamics of their chromosomes (Shih an