Two codependent routes lead to high-level MRSA.

Methicillin-resistant (MRSA), in which acquisition of [which encodes the cell wall peptidoglycan biosynthesis component penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a)] confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, is of major clinical concern. We show that, in the presence of antibiotics, MRSA adopts an alternative mode of cell division and shows an altered peptidoglycan architecture at the division septum. PBP2a can replace the transpeptidase activity of the endogenous and essential PBP2 but not that of PBP1, which is responsible for the distinctive native septal peptidoglycan architecture.

The roles of GpsB and DivIVA in growth and division.

The spheroid bacterium is often used as a model of morphogenesis due to its apparently simple cell cycle. has many cell division proteins that are conserved across bacteria alluding to common functions. However, despite intensive study, we still do not know the roles of many of these components.