An Alternative and Conserved Cell Wall Enzyme That Can Substitute for the Lipid II Synthase MurG.

The cell wall is a stress-bearing structure and a unifying trait in bacteria. Without exception, synthesis of the cell wall involves formation of the precursor molecule lipid II by the activity of the essential biosynthetic enzyme MurG, which is encoded in the division and cell wall synthesis () gene cluster. Here, we present the discovery of a cell wall enzyme that can substitute for MurG.

Genome rearrangements and megaplasmid loss in the filamentous bacterium Kitasatospora viridifaciens are associated with protoplast formation and regeneration.

Filamentous Actinobacteria are multicellular bacteria with linear replicons. Kitasatospora viridifaciens DSM 40239 contains a linear 7.8 Mb chromosome and an autonomously replicating plasmid KVP1 of 1.

Stress-induced adaptive morphogenesis in bacteria.

Bacteria thrive in virtually all environments. Like all other living organisms, bacteria may encounter various types of stresses, to which cells need to adapt. In this chapter, we describe how cells cope with stressful conditions and how this may lead to dramatic morphological changes.

Stress-induced formation of cell wall-deficient cells in filamentous actinomycetes.

The cell wall is a shape-defining structure that envelopes almost all bacteria and protects them from environmental stresses. Bacteria can be forced to grow without a cell wall under certain conditions that interfere with cell wall synthesis, but the relevance of these wall-less cells (known as L-forms) is unclear. Here, we show that several species of filamentous actinomycetes have a natural ability to generate wall-deficient cells in response to hyperosmotic stress, which we call S-cells.

Genome Sequence of the Filamentous Actinomycete .

The vast majority of antibiotics are produced by filamentous soil bacteria called actinomycetes. We report here the genome sequence of the tetracycline producer "" DSM 40239. Given that this species has the hallmark signatures characteristic of the genus, we previously proposed to rename this organism .