Lytic transglycosylases mitigate periplasmic crowding by degrading soluble cell wall turnover products.

ABSTRACT: The peptidoglycan cell wall is a predominant structure of bacteria, determining cell shape and supporting survival in diverse conditions. Peptidoglycan is dynamic and requires regulated synthesis of new material, remodeling, and turnover - or autolysis - of old material. Despite exploitation of peptidoglycan synthesis as an antibiotic target, we lack a fundamental understanding of how peptidoglycan synthesis and autolysis intersect to maintain the cell wall. Here, we uncover a critical physiological role for a widely misunderstood class of autolytic enzymes, lytic transglycosylases (LTGs). We demonstrate that LTG activity is essential to survival by contributing to periplasmic processes upstream and independent of peptidoglycan recycling. Defects accumulate in Vibrio cholerae LTG mu

SUBMITTER: Weaver AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8820737 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature