细菌生长主要通过细胞伸长和分裂的不断循环过程来实现的。由于抗生素可以抑制细菌的生长，因此在医学上主要使用抗生素来治疗传染性疾病。不同的抗生素能够抑制不同的细胞生长进程。例如，β-内酰胺类抗生素可以抑制细菌细胞壁中肽聚糖的合成。临床医学上使用的抗生素主要是链霉菌的天然产物。链霉菌是一类生长于土壤中的放线菌，具有高分化能力，其孢子不能运动。尽管链霉菌的许多生物学特征与临床上的病原菌结核分支杆菌非常相似，但是链霉菌属有一个主要代谢特征，那就是它能够产抗生素。截止目前，尽管人类在链霉菌中尚未发现抑制细菌分裂的抗生素，但是一些其他生物的天然产物以及人工化学合成的化合物均可以抑制细菌分裂过程中重要蛋白分子FtsZ的聚合。该综述将围绕链霉菌的模式菌—天蓝色链霉菌来阐述放线菌的分裂方式，最终阐明调控细菌分裂特异蛋白的生物学功能以及对它们作为新抗生素药物靶位点的价值。%Bacteria grow by successive cycles of cell elongation and division. Inhibiting bacterial growth by administration of antibiotics is a key medical intervention to combat infectious disease. Specific antibiotics tar-get different cellular processes, an example being the inhibition of synthesis of the bacterial peptidoglycan cell wall byβ-lactam antibiotics. The majority of the antibiotics used in clinical medicine are derivatives of natu-ral products produced by soil-dwelling actinobacteria called Streptomyces. These are non-motile differentiat-ing bacteria, related in many aspects of their biology to clinically important pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antibiotic production, however, is a major part of the specialised metabolism of Streptomyces that is a particular characteristic of the genus. Although no streptomycete antibiotics have been discovered that target bacterial cell division, several natural and synthetic compounds can inhibit the function of one of the key cell division proteins, FtsZ. This review highlights the value of utilising a model streptomycete, Streptomy-ces coelicolor, to study cell division in actinobacteria. The ultimate aim is to elucidate the function of specific cell division proteins and elucidate new targets for novel antibiotics.
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