Substrate Preferences Establish the Order of Cell Wall Assembly in Staphylococcus aureus.

ABSTRACT: The Gram-positive bacterial cell wall is a large supramolecular structure and its assembly requires coordination of complex biosynthetic pathways. In the step that merges the two major biosynthetic pathways in Staphylococcus aureus cell wall assembly, conserved protein ligases attach wall teichoic acids to peptidoglycan, but the order of biosynthetic events is a longstanding question. Here, we use a chemical approach to define which of the possible peptidoglycan intermediates are substrates for wall-teichoic acid ligases, thereby establishing the order of cell wall assembly. We have developed a strategy to make defined glycan chain-length polymers of either un-cross-linked or cross-linked peptidoglycan, and we find that wall teichoic acid ligases cannot transfer wall teichoic acid precurso

SUBMITTER: Schaefer K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5870139 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature