, 1996) and IB1141, respectively, with pSGminCEc plasmid and selecting for spectinomycin resistance. IB1109 strain was created by transforming the strain 1920 (minD::erm divIVA::tet; Edwards & Errington, 1997) with chromosomal DNA from strain IB1056 (minD::cat; Barák et al., 2008) with selection for tetracycline and chloramphenicol resistance and erythromycin sensitivity. The disruption of minD was verified by PCR with oligonucleotides minDbsXhoS (5′-GGGTGAGGCTCTCGAGATAACTTCGGGA-3′) and minDbsEcoE

(5′-CTTTGATTCTATCGAATTCAGATCTTACTCCG-3′). To prepare MinDEc in fusion with GFP under the control of Pxyl integrated at the B. subtilis amyE locus, minDEc was amplified by PCR from chromosomal DNA of E. coli MM294 (Backman et al., 1976) using primers RAD001 chemical structure minDecXhoIS (5′-AACAAGGAATTCTCGAGGCACGCATTATTGTTGTTAC-3′) and minDecEcoRIE (5′-AGAGAAAGAAATCGAATTCTGCCATAACTTATC-3′), introducing XhoI and EcoRI sites. The XhoI–EcoRI fragment containing the

whole minDEc gene was inserted into pSG1729 (Lewis & Marston, 1999), generating pSGminDEc plasmid. The pSGminDEc was then transformed into B. subtilis strains MO1099 (Guérout-Fleury et al., 1996), IB1056 (Barák et al., 2008) and 1920 strain (Edwards & Errington, 1997) with selection for spectinomycin resistance to yield strains IB1103, IB1104 and IB1105. Three mutant versions of MinDEc (G209D, S89P and I23N) were prepared as follows. The genes were amplified by PCR from chromosomal DNA of strains IB1132, IB1133 and IB1134 carrying the corresponding Natural Product Library in vivo mutations using the same primers

(minDecXhoIS, minDecEcoRIE) as used for minDEc amplification. Subsequently, these genes were cloned into pSG1729 (Lewis & Marston, 1999) creating three plasmids, pSGminDEc(G209D), pSGminDEc(S89P) and pSGminDEc(I23N). These plasmids were used for preparation of B. subtilis strains that express mutant MinDEc versions in fusion with GFP in a wild-type background (IB1135, IB1136 and IB1137) or a ΔminD background (IB1138, IB1139 and IB1140). To prepare YFP fusion with minDEc, the gene was amplified using primers minDecSalIS (5′-AACAAGGAATTGTCGACGCACGCATTATTGTTGTTAC-3′) and minDecSphIE (5′-AGAGAAAGAAATCGCATGCTGCCATAACTTATC-3′). The SalI–SphI fragment was cloned into pED962 plasmid (kind gift of D. Rudner, unpublished data) cut with the same restriction mafosfamide enzymes. The resulting plasmid pEDminDEc was introduced into B. subtilis strains MO1099 (Guérout-Fleury et al., 1996), IB1056 (Barák et al., 2008) and IB1109 with selection for spectinomycin resistance to generate strains IB1110, IB1111 and IB1112. The E. coli minE gene was amplified by PCR from chromosomal DNA of E. coli strain MM294 (Backman et al., 1976) using primers minEKpnIS (5′-CGCTTGTTCGGAGGTACCGTTATGGCATTACTC-3′) and minEKpnIE (5′-ATG CGCTTTTACAGCGGGTACCTTTCAGCTCTTC-3′) introducing KpnI restriction sites. To generate pSGminEEc plasmid, the PCR product was inserted into the KpnI site of pSG1154 (Lewis & Marston, 1999).