Preprints
Access previous, preprinted versions of Levin lab manuscripts here
2023
Anderson, S. E. S. E. Vadia, J. McKelvy, and P. A. Levin (2023), The transcription factor DksA exerts opposing effects on cell division depending on the presence of ppGpp, mBio, in press.
Sanders, S., K. Joshi, P. A. Levin*, and Srividya Iyer-Biswas* (2023) Beyond the average: An updated framework for understanding the relationship between cell growth, DNA replication, and division in a bacterial system, PLOS Genetics, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010505
2022
Shinn M. K., M. C. Cohan, J. L. Bullock, K. M. Ruff, P. A. Levin, and R. V. Pappu (2022) Connecting sequence features within the disordered C-terminal linker of B. subtilis FtsZ to function and bacterial cell division, PNAS, 119 (42) e2211178119 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2211178119 (bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.498098v1)
Kellogg, D. R. and P. A. Levin, Nutrient availability as an arbiter of cell size (2022) Trends in Cell Biology, 32: 908-919 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcb.2022.06.008
Levin, P. A., A bacterium that is not a microbe (2022) Science, 376:1379-1380. DOI: 10.1126/science.adc9387 Link here.
2021
Levin, P. A. and A. Janakiraman, Localization, Assembly, and Activation of the Escherichia coli cell division machinery, Invited Chapter for EcoSal Plus, Dec 15;9(2):eESP00222021. doi: 10.1128/ecosalplus. PMID: 34910577.
Tsen S. D., Popovich J., M. Hodges, S. E. Haydel, K. T. Tsen, G. Sudlow, E. A. Mueller, P. A. Levin, and S. Achilefu. (2021) Inactivation of multidrug-resistant bacteria and bacterial spores and generation of high-potency bacterial vaccines using ultrashort pulsed lasers. J Biophotonics. Nov 21:e202100207. doi: 10.1002/jbio.202100207. PMID: 34802194
Shi, H., C. S. Westfall, J. Kao‡, P. D. Odermatt, S. Cesar, S. Anderson, M. Sievert‡, J. Moore‡, C. G. Gonzalez, L. Zhang, J. E. Elias, F. Chang, K. C. Huang, and P. A. Levin. (2021) Starvation induces shrinkage of the bacterial cytoplasm, Proc Natl Acad Sci, 118 (24) e2104686118 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2104686118 PMID: 34117124 (preprint available on bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.06.413849)
Mueller, E. A., A. G. Iken‡, M. A. Oeztuerk, M. Winkel, M. Schmitz, W. Vollmer, B. Di Ventura, and P. A. Levin. (2021) The active repertoire of Escherichia coli peptidoglycan amidases varies with physiochemical environment, Mol Microbiol, 116(1):311-328. DOI: 10.1111/mmi.14711 PMID: 33666292 (Preprint of earlier version available on bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.19.344754)
2020
Mueller, E. A. and P. A. Levin. (2020) Bacterial cell wall quality control during environmental stress, mBio 11 (5) e02456-20; DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02456-20
Bhambhani, A., I. Iadicicco, J. Lee, S. Ahmed, M. Belfatto, D. Held, A. Marconi, A. Parks, C. R. Stewart, W. Margolin, P. A. Levin, D. P. Haeusser. (2020) Bacteriophage SP01 Gene Product 56 (gp56) Inhibits Bacillus subtilis Cell Division by Interacting with DivIC/FtsL to Prevent Pbp2B/FtsW Recruitment, J Bacteriol, 203: e00463-20; DOI: 10.1128/JB.00463-20.
Mueller, E. A, C. S. Westfall, and P. A. Levin. (2020) Environmental pH impacts division assembly and cell size in Escherichia coli, PLOS Genetics, 16(3): e1008685. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008685. PMID: 32203516
Cohan, M. C., Anna M. P. Eddelbuettel, P. A. Levin, and R. V. Pappu. (2020) Dissecting the functional contributions of the intrinsically disordered C-terminal tail of B. subtilis FtsZ, J Mol Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2020.03.008 PMID: 32198113
Fernández-Coll, L., M. Maciag-Dorszynska, K. Tailor, S. Vadia, P. A. Levin, A. Szalewska-Palasz, and M. Cashel. (2020) The absence of (p)ppGpp renders initiation of Escherichia coli chromosomal DNA synthesis independent of growth rates, mBio, 11 (2) e03223-19; DOI: 10.1128/mBio.03223-19 PMID: 32156825
2019
Haeusser, D. P. and P. A. Levin (2019) Keeping Replication on Par with Division in Bacillus, Mol Microbiol, 112:747-750. Invited Commentary. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/mmi.14338 PMID: 31254421
Q & A Petra Anne Levin (2019) Curr Biol 29: R395–R402
Si, F, G. Le Treut, J. T. Sauls, S. Vadia, P. A. Levin, and S. Jun (2019) Mechanistic origin of cell-size control and homeostasis in bacteria, Curr Biol 29:760-1770.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.04.062 PMID: 31104932 Preprint: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/11/26/478818
Taheri-Araghi, S and P. A. Levin (2019) One is nothing without the other: theoretical and empirical analysis of cell growth and cell cycle progression,J Mol Biol 431:2061-2067. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2019.04.004 PMID: 31026450
Mueller, E. A., A. J. F. Egan, E. Breukink, W. Vollmer, and P. A. Levin (2019) Plasticity in Escherichia coli cell wall metabolism promotes fitness and antibiotic resistance across environmental conditions, eLife, 2019;8:e40754 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.40754 PMID: 30963998
Mueller, E. A. and C. S. Westfall (2019) Blown out of proportion — The role of ppGpp in balanced metabolism. Small Things Considered Blog, March 11, 2019. Link here.
McAuley, S., S. Vadia, C. Jani, A. Huynh, Z. Yang, P. A. Levin, and J. Nodwell (2019) A chemical inhibitor of cell growth reduces cell size in Bacillus subtilis, ACS Chem. Biol. 14(4) 688-695. PMID: 30848888
Westfall, C. S., A. L. Flores-Mireles, J. I. Robinson, A. J. L. Lynch, S. Hultgren, J. P. Henderson, and P. A. Levin (2019) The widely used antimicrobial triclosan induces high levels of antibiotic tolerance in vitro and reduces antibiotic efficacy up to 100-fold in vivo. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. doi: 10.1128/AAC.02312-18. PMID:30782996
2018
Mueller, E. A. and P. A. Levin (2018) Evolving to End a Toxic Relationship: ADP Ribosylation in Interbacterial Warfare, Cell, 175(5):1182-1184. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.10.051. PMID: 30445038
Hill, N. S., J. Zuke, P. J. Buske, A-C Chien, and P. A. Levin (2018) A nutrient-dependent division antagonist is regulated post-translationally by the Clp proteases in Bacillus subtilis, BMC Microbiol 18:29-43. PMID: 29625553 doi.org/10.1186/s12866-018-1155-2 PMID: 29625553
Wehrens, M., D. Ershov, R. Rozendaal, N. Walker, D. Schultz, R. Kishony, P. A. Levin, and S. J. Tans (2018) Size Laws and Division Ring Dynamics in Filamentous Escherichia coli cells, Curr Biol 28: 1-8. doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.006 PMID: 29502951
Westfall, C. S. and P. A. Levin (2018) Comprehensive analysis of central carbon metabolism reveals multiple connections between nutrients, biosynthetic capacity, and cell morphology in Escherichia coli, PLOS Genetics, 14(2) e1007205. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007205 PMID: 29432413
2017
Westfall, C.S. and P. A. Levin (2017) Bacterial Cell Size: Multifactorial and Multifaceted, Invited review for Annual Review of Microbiology, 71: 499-517. PMID: 28886685 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-micro-090816-093803 PMID: 28886685
Vadia, S., J. L. Tse, R. Lucena, D. Kellogg, J. Wang, and P. A. Levin (2017) Fatty acid synthesis sets cell envelope capacity and dictates microbial cell size, Curr Biol 27 (12):1757 – 1767.e5 PMID: 28602657 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.076 PMID: 28602657
Subject of Dispatch in Current Biology, Willis, L. and K. C. Huang (2017) Cell Size: Fat makes cells fat 27(12) R592 -R594 PMID:28633027 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.017
Vadia, S. and P. A. Levin (2017) Bacterial Size: Can’t escape the long arm of the law. Curr Biol 27:R339-R341. PMID:28486115 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.050. PMID:28486115
den Blaauwen, T., L. W. Hamoen, and P. A. Levin (2017) The Divisome at 25: The road ahead, Curr Opin Microbiol 36:85–94 PMID: 28254403 DOI:10.1016/j.mib.2017.01.001 PMID: 28254403
2015
Arjes, H.A., B. Lai, E. R. Emelue, A. Steinbach, and P. A. Levin (2015) Mutations in the bacterial cell division protein FtsZ highlight the role of GTP binding and longitudinal subunit interactions in assembly and function. BMC Microbiology, 5:209 DOI 10.1186/s12866-015-0544-z.
Levin, P. A. and E. R. Angert, Small but mighty: cell size and bacteria (2015) invited chapter for Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives: Size Control in Biology, from Organelles to Organisms. Edited by Drs. Rebecca Heald, Iswar Hariharan, and David Wake, 7(7):a019216. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a019216. PMID:26054743
Land, A.D., P. Hogan, S. Fritz and P. A. Levin, (2015) Phenotypic variation is almost entirely independent of the host-pathogen relationship in clinical isolates of S. aureus, PLoS ONE, 10(6):e0129670. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129670. PMID: 26098551
Vadia, S. and P. A. Levin, (2015) Growth rate and cell size: a re-examination of the growth law, (2015) Current Opinion in Microbiology 24: 96-103.PMID: 25662920
Taheri-Araghi, S, S. Bradde, J. T. Sauls, N. S. Hill, P. A. Levin, J. Paulsson, M. Vergassola, and S. Jun. (2015) Cell-size control and homeostasis in bacteria, Current Biology 25 (3), 385-391. PMID: 25544609.
Buske, P. J., A. Mittal, R. V. Pappu, and P. A. Levin (2015) An intrinsically disordered linker plays a critical role in bacterial cell division, Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 37, 3-10. PMID: 25305578.
2014
Arjes, H. A. , A. Kriel, N. A. Sorto, J. T. Shaw, J. D. Wang and P. A. Levin. (2014) Failsafe mechanisms couple division and DNA replication in bacteria, Current Biology. 24(18): 2149-2155. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.055. PMID: 26463348
Subject of Dispatch in Current Biology, K. Jonas (2015) Cell Cycle: Once Out, Never in Again, Current Biology 24(18): R841-R843. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.067.
Land, A. D., Q, Luo, and P. A. Levin (2014) Functional domain analysis of the cell division inhibitor EzrA, PLoS ONE 9(7): e102616. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102616. PMID: 25068683 (PDF)
2013
Hill, N. S., P. J. Buske, Y. Shi, and P. A. Levin. (2013) A moonlighting enzyme links Escherichia coli cell size with central metabolism, PLoS Genetics 9(7): e1003663.doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.10036. 6. PMID: 23935518 (PDF)
Buske, P. J. and P. A. Levin. (2013) A flexible C-terminal linker is required for proper FtsZ assembly in vitro and cytokinetic ring formation in vivo, Mol. Microbiol. 2:249-263. PMID: 23692518 (PDF)
2012
Chien, A-C, S. K. Zareh, Y. M. Wang and P. A. Levin. (2012) Changes in the oligomerization potential of the division inhibitor UgtP coordinate Bacillus subtilis cell size with nutrient availability, Mol. Microbiol. 86:594-610. PMID: 22931116 (PDF)
Chien, A-C., N. S. Hill and P. A. Levin. (2012) Cell size control in bacteria, Current Biology, 22(9):R340-R349 (PDF) PMID: 22575476
Hill, N. S., R. Kadoya, D. K. Chattoraj, and P. A. Levin. (2012), Cell size and the initiation of DNA replication in bacteria, PLoS Genet 8(3): e1002549.doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002549. PMID: 22396664 (PDF)
Subject of Research Highlight in Nature Reviews Microbiology, Cellular microbiology: Replication comes in all sizes, Nature Reviews Microbiology 10, 312-313. Doi:10.1038/nrmicro2793. (PDF)
Buske, P. J. and P. A. Levin. (2012) The extreme C-terminus of the bacterial cytoskeletal protein FtsZ plays a fundamental role in assembly independent of modulatory proteins, J. Biol. Chem., 287:10945-10957. PMID: 22298780. (PDF)
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