Staphylococcus aureus cell growth and division are regulated by an amidase that trims peptides from uncrosslinked peptidoglycan.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria are protected by a polymer of peptidoglycan that serves as an exoskeleton¹. In Staphylococcus aureus, the peptidoglycan assembly enzymes relocate during the cell cycle from the periphery, where they are active during growth, to the division site where they build the partition between daughter cells^2-4. But how peptidoglycan synthesis is regulated throughout the cell cycle is poorly understood^5,6. Here, we used a transposon screen to identify a membrane protein complex that spatially regulates S. aureus peptidoglycan synthesis. This complex consists of an amidase that removes stem peptides from uncrosslinked peptidoglycan and a partner protein that controls its activity. Amidases typically hydrolyse crosslinked peptidoglycan between daughter cells s

SUBMITTER: Do T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7046134 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature