Nascent teichoic acids insertion into the cell wall directs the localization and activity of the major pneumococcal autolysin LytA.

ABSTRACT: The bacterial cell wall is in part composed of the peptidoglycan (PG) layer that maintains the cell shape and sustains the basic cellular processes of growth and division. The cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria also carries teichoic acids (TAs). In this work, we investigated how TAs contribute to the structuration of the PG network through the modulation of PG hydrolytic enzymes in the context of the Gram-positive Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium. Pneumococcal TAs are decorated by phosphorylcholine residues which serve as anchors for the Choline-Binding Proteins, some of them acting as PG hydrolases, like the major autolysin LytA. Their binding is non covalent and reversible, a property that allows easy manipulation of the system. In this work, we show that the release of LytA oc

SUBMITTER: Bonnet J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7389264 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature