TY - JOUR TI - Two different cell-cycle processes determine the timing of cell division in Escherichia coli AU - Colin, Alexandra AU - Micali, Gabriele AU - Faure, Louis AU - Cosentino Lagomarsino, Marco AU - van Teeffelen, Sven A2 - Seminara, Agnese A2 - Barkai, Naama A2 - Kleckner, Nancy A2 - Liu, Chenli VL - 10 PY - 2021 DA - 2021/10/06 SP - e67495 C1 - eLife 2021;10:e67495 DO - 10.7554/eLife.67495 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67495 AB - Cells must control the cell cycle to ensure that key processes are brought to completion. In Escherichia coli, it is controversial whether cell division is tied to chromosome replication or to a replication-independent inter-division process. A recent model suggests instead that both processes may limit cell division with comparable odds in single cells. Here, we tested this possibility experimentally by monitoring single-cell division and replication over multiple generations at slow growth. We then perturbed cell width, causing an increase of the time between replication termination and division. As a consequence, replication became decreasingly limiting for cell division, while correlations between birth and division and between subsequent replication-initiation events were maintained. Our experiments support the hypothesis that both chromosome replication and a replication-independent inter-division process can limit cell division: the two processes have balanced contributions in non-perturbed cells, while our width perturbations increase the odds of the replication-independent process being limiting. KW - cell cycle control KW - cell division KW - chromosome replication KW - single-cell correlations KW - live-cell microscopy KW - theoretical modeling JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -