In the Ring

Bacteria divide and spread in minutes – over surfaces in hospitals and schools as well as inside our bodies, where 'friendly' bacteria compete with harmful bacteria like Escherichia coli (E. coli). This microscopic ‘Z-ring’, forms early in E. coli’s division (known as binary fission) constricting to 'pinch' the bacterial cell in two. Here researchers use cryo-electron tomography and computer rendering to picture the Z-ring in 3D – its torus shape ~100,000 times smaller than a ring doughnut. They find it’s made from concentric rings of short FtsZ protein filaments (coloured blue) held together by ZapD ‘crosslinkers’, a bit like garden wire through a festive wreath. Examining these structures in detail may be a step towards designing anti-bacterial chemicals to break the rings apart, halting division and preventing the spread of bacteria that may cause harmful infections.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Adrián Merino-Salomón and colleagues
• Department of Cellular and Molecular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany; Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, September 2025