Cell cycle control of cell morphogenesis in Caulobacter

In Caulobacter crescentus, morphogenic events, such as cytokinesis, the establishment of asymmetry and the biogenesis of polar structures, are precisely regulated during the cell cycle by internal cues, such as cell division and the initiation of DNA replication. Recent studies have revealed that the converse is also true. That is, differentiation events impose regulatory controls on other differentiation events, as well as on progression of the cell cycle. Thus, there are pathways that sense the assembly of structures or the localization of complexes and then transduce this information to subsequent biogenesis or cell cycle events. In this review, we examine the interplay between flagellar assembly and the C. crescentus cell cycle. In the dynamic interplay of morphogenetic events during the course of the bacterial cell cycle, different and seemingly unconnected morphogenetic events, such as cell division and flagellar biogenesis, share overlapping regulation, thus coordinating the successful genesis of progeny daughter cells.