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Three-dimensional structure of the bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan
Abstract
The 3D structure of the bacterial peptidoglycan, the major constituent of the cell wall, is one of the most important, yet still unsolved, structural problems in biochemistry. The peptidoglycan comprises alternating N -acetylglucosamine (NAG) and N -acetylmuramic disaccharide (NAM) saccharides, the latter of which has a peptide stem. Adjacent peptide stems are cross-linked by the transpeptidase enzymes of cell wall biosynthesis to provide the cell wall polymer with the structural integrity required by the bacterium. The cell wall and its biosynthetic enzymes are targets of antibiotics. The 3D structure of the cell wall has been elusive because of its complexity and the lack of pure samples. Herein we report the 3D solution structure as determined by NMR of the 2-kDa NAG-NAM(pentapeptide)-NAG-NAM(pentapeptide) synthetic fragment of the cell wall. The glycan backbone of this peptidoglycan forms a right-handed helix with a periodicity of three for the NAG-NAM repeat (per turn of the helix). The first two amino acids of the pentapeptide adopt a limited number of conformations. Based on this structure a model for the bacterial cell wall is proposed.
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Cited by
Peptidoglycan structure and architecture
Vollmer, W., Blanot, D., & De Pedro, M. A. (2008) · FEMS Microbiology Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2007.00094.x · Cited by 2,340
The penicillin-binding proteins: structure and role in peptidoglycan biosynthesis
Sauvage, E., Kerff, F., Terrak, M., Ayala, J. A., & Charlier, P. (2008) · FEMS Microbiology Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00105.x · Cited by 1,317
Murata, H., Koepsel, R. R., Matyjaszewski, K., & Russell, A. J. (2007) · Biomaterials · doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2007.06.012 · Cited by 722
Murein (peptidoglycan) structure, architecture and biosynthesis in Escherichia coli
Vollmer, W., & Bertsche, U. (2008) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes · doi:10.1016/j.bbamem.2007.06.007 · Cited by 451
Peptidoglycan recognition proteins: pleiotropic sensors and effectors of antimicrobial defences
Royet, J., & Dziarski, R. (2007) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/nrmicro1620 · Cited by 419
Metadata
- Authors
- Meroueh, S. O., Bencze, K. Z., Hesek, D., Lee, M., Fisher, J. F., Stemmler, T. L., & Mobashery, S.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2006-03-09
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 4404-4409
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- OpenAlex
- W2161268253
- Cited by
- 415
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 13.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Meroueh, S. O., Bencze, K. Z., Hesek, D., Lee, M., Fisher, J. F., Stemmler, T. L., & Mobashery, S. (2006). Three-dimensional structure of the bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0510182103
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