Identification and characterization of archaeal pseudomurein biosynthesis genes through pangenomics.

ABSTRACT: The peptidoglycan (PG, or murein) is a mesh-like structure, which is made of glycan polymers connected by short peptides and surrounds the cell membrane of nearly all bacterial species. In contrast, there is no PG counterpart that would be universally found in Archaea but rather various polymers that are specific to some lineages. Methanopyrales and Methanobacteriales are two orders of Euryarchaeota that harbor pseudomurein (PM), a structural analog of the bacterial PG. Owing to the differences between PG and PM biosynthesis, some have argued that the origin of both polymers is not connected. However, recent studies have revealed that the genomes of PM-containing Archaea encode homologs of the bacterial genes involved in PG biosynthesis, even though neither their specific functions nor the

SUBMITTER: Lupo V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11915815 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature