title: Localization of new peptidoglycan at poles in Bacillus mycoides, a member of the Bacillus cereus group.
abstract: Bacillus mycoides is a sporogenic Gram-positive soil bacillus of the B. cereus group. This bacillus, which forms hyphal colonies, is composed of cells connected in filaments that make up bundles and turn clock- or counterclockwise depending on the strain. A thick peptidoglycan wall gives the rod cells of these bacilli strength and shape. One approach used to study peptidoglycan neoformation in Gram positives exploits the binding properties of antibiotics such as vancomycin and ramoplanin to nascent peptidoglycan, whose localization in the cell is monitored by means of a fluorescent tag. When we treated B. mycoides strains  with BODIPY-vancomycin, we found the expected accumulation of fluorescence at the midcell septa and localization along the cell sidewall in small foci distributed quite uniformly. Intense fluorescence was also observed at the poles of many cells, more clearly visible at the outer edges of the cell chains. The unusual abundance of peptidoglycan intermediates at the cell poles after cell separation suggests that the construction process of this structure is different from that of B. subtilis, in which the free poles are rarely reactive to vancomycin.
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie C. Darwin, Università Sapienza, Roma, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. luana.turchi@uniroma1.it
authors: Luana
authors: L
authors: Turchi
authors: Tiziana
authors: T
authors: Santini
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Beccari
authors: Carmen
authors: C
authors: Di Franco
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000378:metabolism*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000378:metabolism*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010457:Peptidoglycan; D014640:Vancomycin