Considering the changing face of social media in higher education.

There is currently much ongoing consideration as to how educators can make use of new technologies to engage students. The prevalence of social media use within both private and professional circles has made these technologies increasingly important for educators. This commentary briefly outlines some of the ways social media has been used in higher education and also some of the primary concerns.

Interaction of penicillin-binding protein 2 with soluble lytic transglycosylase B1 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Soluble lytic transglycosylase B1 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa was coupled to Sepharose and used to immobilize interaction partners from membrane protein extracts. Penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP2) was identified as a binding partner, suggesting that the two proteins function together in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan. By use of an engineered truncated derivative, the N-terminal module of PBP2 was found to confer the binding properties.

Role of Ser216 in the mechanism of action of membrane-bound lytic transglycosylase B: further evidence for substrate-assisted catalysis.

Lytic transglycosylases cleave the beta-(1-->4)-glycosidic bond in the bacterial cell wall heteropolymer peptidoglycan between the N-acetylmuramic acid (MurNAc) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residues with the concomitant formation of a 1,6-anhydromuramoyl residue. Based on sequence alignments, Ser216 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa membrane-bound lytic transglycosylase B (MltB) was targeted for replacement with alanine to delineate its role in the enzyme's mechanism of action. The specific activity of the Ser216-->Ala MltB derivative was less than 12% of that for the wild-type enzyme, while its substrate binding affinity remained virtually unaltered.

Overproduction of penicillin-binding protein 2 and its inactive variants causes morphological changes and lysis in Escherichia coli.

Penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP 2) has long been known to be essential for rod-shaped morphology in gram-negative bacteria, including Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In the course of earlier studies with P. aeruginosa PBP 2, we observed that E.

Function of penicillin-binding protein 2 in viability and morphology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Objectives: To investigate the function of penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP 2) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

Methods: The growth and morphology of P. aeruginosa cultured in the absence and presence of mecillinam was assessed.