LipidII: Just Another Brick in the Wall?

PLoS Pathog. 2015 Dec 17;11(12):e1005213. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005213. eCollection 2015 Dec.

Abstract

Nearly all bacteria contain a peptidoglycan cell wall. The peptidoglycan precursor molecule is LipidII, containing the basic peptidoglycan building block attached to a lipid. Although the suitability of LipidII as an antibacterial target has long been recognized, progress on elucidating the role(s) of LipidII in bacterial cell biology has been slow. The focus of this review is on exciting new developments, both with respect to antibacterials targeting LipidII as well as the emerging role of LipidII in organizing the membrane and cell wall synthesis. It appears that on both sides of the membrane, LipidII plays crucial roles in organizing cytoskeletal proteins and peptidoglycan synthesis machineries. Finally, the recent discovery of no less than three different categories of LipidII flippases will be discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cell Wall / metabolism*
  • Peptidoglycan / metabolism*

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Peptidoglycan

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO, 864.09.010, to DJS) (http://www.nwo.nl/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.