摘要：

The E. coli division cycle must be regulated both temporally and topologically. Temporal regulation is required to assure that septation does not occur until chromosome replication has been completed and until the two daughter chromosomes have been segregated to opposite ends of the cell. Topological regulation is required to assure that the septum is formed at its proper midcell location and not at eccentric sites that would lead to formation of anucleate cells. A considerable amount is known about genes involved in these aspects of cell division. However, surprisingly little is understood about the regulation of these processes and studies of this important problem are still in their infancy. Although there is reason to believe that the expression of important cell division genes is subject to regulatory control, it is not known whether orderly progression through the cell cycle is mediated by changes in gene expression. On the other hand, it is clear that regulation of gene expression does play an important role in modulating the response of the division process to physiological aberrations such as interference with DNA replication.

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