LipidII: Just Another Brick in the Wall?

Overview

Journal PLoS Pathog

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2015 Dec 19

PMID 26679002

Citations 21

Authors

Dirk-Jan Scheffers

Menno B Tol

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Nearly all bacteria contain a peptidoglycan cell wall. The peptidoglycan precursor molecule is LipidII, containing the basic peptidoglycan building block attached to a lipid. Although the suitability of LipidII as an antibacterial target has long been recognized, progress on elucidating the role(s) of LipidII in bacterial cell biology has been slow. The focus of this review is on exciting new developments, both with respect to antibacterials targeting LipidII as well as the emerging role of LipidII in organizing the membrane and cell wall synthesis. It appears that on both sides of the membrane, LipidII plays crucial roles in organizing cytoskeletal proteins and peptidoglycan synthesis machineries. Finally, the recent discovery of no less than three different categories of LipidII flippases will be discussed.

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