Infrared spectroscopy, a tool for probing bacterial peptidoglycan. Potentialities of infrared spectroscopy for cell wall analytical studies and rejection of models based on crystalline chitin.

Infrared spectroscopic measurements are used to obtain insights into the three-dimensional architecture of peptidoglycan (murein), the rigid component of almost all bacterial cell walls. The infrared spectra of various types of peptidoglycans (including all chemotypes and examples of the so called A and B groups) were compared to each other and to those obtained from crystalline chitin. All peptidoglycans investigated exhibited very similar infrared spectra.