Localization and interactions of teichoic acid synthetic enzymes in Bacillus subtilis.

ABSTRACT: The thick wall of gram-positive bacteria is a polymer meshwork composed predominantly of peptidoglycan (PG) and teichoic acids, both of which have a critical function in maintenance of the structural integrity and the shape of the cell. In Bacillus subtilis 168 the major teichoic acid is covalently coupled to PG and is known as wall teichoic acid (WTA). Recently, PG insertion/degradation over the lateral wall has been shown to occur in a helical pattern. However, the spatial organization of WTA assembly and its relationship with cell shape and PG assembly are largely unknown. We have characterized the localization of green fluorescent protein fusions to proteins involved in several steps of WTA synthesis in B. subtilis: TagB, -F, -G, -H, and -O. All of these localized similarly to the inne

SUBMITTER: Formstone A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2258661 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature