Lighting up the nascent cell wall.
Many antibiotics target the assembly of the cell wall of eubacteria, a netlike 3D structure composed of layers of peptidoglycan (PG). Very little is known about how the lipid precursor of PG, lipid II, is inserted into the existing cell wall in a growing and dividing cell. A new study provides a powerful tool for investigating this insertion process and opens the door to understanding the mechanism of eubacterial cell wall biogenesis.
van der Donk
Wilfred A
WA
Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. vddonk@uiuc.edu
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010406:Penicillins / Q000737:chemistry; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000737:chemistry
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008055:Lipids; D010406:Penicillins; D010457:Peptidoglycan