From the regulation of peptidoglycan synthesis to bacterial growth and morphology.
How bacteria grow and divide while retaining a defined shape is a fundamental question in microbiology, but technological advances are now driving a new understanding of how the shape-maintaining bacterial peptidoglycan sacculus grows. In this Review, we highlight the relationship between peptidoglycan synthesis complexes and cytoskeletal elements, as well as recent evidence that peptidoglycan growth is regulated from outside the sacculus in Gram-negative bacteria. We also discuss how growth of the sacculus is sensitive to mechanical force and nutritional status, and describe the roles of peptidoglycan hydrolases in generating cell shape and of D-amino acids in sacculus remodelling.
Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
Athanasios
A
Typas
Manuel
M
Banzhaf
Carol A
CA
Gross
Waldemar
W
Vollmer
D000581:Amidohydrolases / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D006868:Hydrolysis; D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase / Q000378:metabolism; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C071525:FtsZ protein, Bacteria; D010457:Peptidoglycan; C078473:MreB protein, E coli; D010450:Endopeptidases; D000581:Amidohydrolases; D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase