Lytic transglycosylases: concinnity in concision of the bacterial cell wall.

Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol

a Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame , IN , USA.

Published: October 2017

The lytic transglycosylases (LTs) are bacterial enzymes that catalyze the non-hydrolytic cleavage of the peptidoglycan structures of the bacterial cell wall. They are not catalysts of glycan synthesis as might be surmised from their name. Notwithstanding the seemingly mundane reaction catalyzed by the LTs, their lytic reactions serve bacteria for a series of astonishingly diverse purposes. These purposes include cell-wall synthesis, remodeling, and degradation; for the detection of cell-wall-acting antibiotics; for the expression of the mechanism of cell-wall-acting antibiotics; for the insertion of secretion systems and flagellar assemblies into the cell wall; as a virulence mechanism during infection by certain Gram-negative bacteria; and in the sporulation and germination of Gram-positive spores. Significant advances in the mechanistic understanding of each of these processes have coincided with the successive discovery of new LTs structures. In this review, we provide a systematic perspective on what is known on the structure-function correlations for the LTs, while simultaneously identifying numerous opportunities for the future study of these enigmatic enzymes.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6102726PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10409238.2017.1337705DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

cell wall
12
lytic transglycosylases
8
bacterial cell
8
cell-wall-acting antibiotics
8
transglycosylases concinnity
4
concinnity concision
4
concision bacterial
4
wall lytic
4
lts
4
transglycosylases lts
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!