Biology

Dr. Manjula Reddy
CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

Abstract:

Bacteria are a large group of ubiquitous unicellular microorganisms. To protect themselves against both extracellular stress and intracellular osmotic pressure, most bacteria are surrounded by a thick cell wall that consists of a mesh-like exoskeleton called peptidoglycan (PG) sacculus. PG is made up of multiple overlapping glycan strands interlinked by short peptide chains and forms a net-like structure around the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane. Because PG completely encases the cytoplasmic membrane, cleavage of peptide cross-links is a prerequisite to open up the meshes and make space to incorporate nascent glycan strands for its successful enlargement during growth of a cell. Here, the significance of cross-link cleavage during expansion of PG and its regulation will be discussed.