Visualizing Teixobactin Supramolecular Assemblies and Cell Wall Damage in B. Subtilis Using CryoEM

Paul Joshua Hurst; Michael A Morris; Annissa A Graham; James S Nowick; Joseph P Patterson

doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c04331

Visualizing Teixobactin Supramolecular Assemblies and Cell Wall Damage in B. Subtilis Using CryoEM

ACS Omega. 2021 Oct 7;6(41):27412-27417. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c04331. eCollection 2021 Oct 19.

Authors

Paul Joshua Hurst¹, Michael A Morris¹, Annissa A Graham¹, James S Nowick¹, Joseph P Patterson^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California 92697-2025, United States.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, United States.

Abstract

The antibiotic teixobactin targets bacterial cell walls. Previous research has proposed that the active form of teixobactin is a nano-/micron-sized supramolecular assembly. Here, we use cryogenic transmission electron microscopy to show that at 1 mg/mL, teixobactin forms sheet-like assemblies that selectively act upon the cell wall. At 4 μg/mL, teixobactin is active, and aggregates are formed either transiently or sparingly at the cell surface.