The peptidoglycan (PG) consists of a single, cross-linked layer of polysaccharide that forms the primary load-bearing material of bacteria and resists the large osmotic pressure across the cell wall. As defects in PG assembly and remodeling are catastrophic to cells, mechanistic studies in this area may lead to the discovery of new targets and antibiotics that inhibit cell wall assembly. To explore this area, we have developed a chemical biological approach to identify and study proteins that regulate PG biosynthesis and to quantitatively determine the influence of small molecules on these targets. In this abstract we describe this experimental platform and its application to studying the biochemical regulation of the mechanical properties of the Escherichia coli cell wall.

Translating the assembly of the bacterial cell wall into new antibiotics

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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