The sequence of a 4.6-kb region of DNA from Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13869 lying upstream from the ftsQ-ftsZ region has been determined. The region contains four genes with high similarity to the murD, ftsW, murG, and murC genes from different microorganisms. The products of these mur genes probably catalyse several steps in the formation of the precursors for peptidoglycan synthesis in C. glutamicum, whereas ftsW might play also a role in the stabilisation of the FtsZ ring during cell division. The murC gene product was purified to near homogeneity and its UDP-N-acetylmuramate: L-alanine adding activity was demonstrated. Northern analysis indicated that ftsW, murG and ftsQ are poorly expressed in C. glutamicum whereas murC and ftsZ are expressed at higher levels at the beginning of the exponential phase. Dicistronic (ftsQ-ftsZ) and monocistronic (murC and ftsZ) transcripts can be detected using specific probes and are in agreement with the lack of transcriptional terminators in the partially analysed dcw cluster. Disruption experiments performed in C. glutamicum using internal fragments of the ftsW, murG and murC genes allowed us to conclude that FtsW, MurG, and MurC are essential gene products in C. glutamicum. © 2003 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.