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Review
. 2004 Sep;186(18):5978-87.
doi: 10.1128/JB.186.18.5978-5987.2004.

The architecture of the murein (peptidoglycan) in gram-negative bacteria: vertical scaffold or horizontal layer(s)?

Waldemar Vollmer  1 , Joachim-Volker Höltje
Affiliations
Review

The architecture of the murein (peptidoglycan) in gram-negative bacteria: vertical scaffold or horizontal layer(s)?

Waldemar Vollmer et al. J Bacteriol. 2004 Sep.
No abstract available

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Possible structures of the murein glycan strands. (A) In a chitin-like glycan strand structure, all peptides would point in the same direction. The older models assumed that this was the conformation for the glycan strands. (B) Present model of the glycan strand structure. Due to steric hindrance, the peptides protrude helically from the glycan strands such that the peptides of successive MurNAc residues are shifted by an angle of 90°. Note that in this arrangement every second peptide lays in one plane, pointing to the left or to the right. Dark gray bars, MurNAc; light gray bars, GlcNAc; arrows, peptides.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Possible arrangement of the murein glycan strands with respect to the cytoplasmic membrane. Part of the murein structure with glycans consisting of 12 disaccharide units that are maximally cross-linked is shown. In the scaffold arrangement (left side) the glycans are arranged perpendicular to the cytoplasmic membrane (xy plane). In a horizontally layered murein (right side), both the glycans and cross-linked peptides are oriented parallel to the cytoplasmic membrane, whereas the non-cross-linked peptides point out of the layer. Every dark gray bar and light gray bar represents one GlcNAc-MurNAc disaccharide unit; solid lines represent peptides.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Tessera is the smallest structural unit of the layered murein. The glycan strands are arranged in a zigzag pattern. The peptides in the plane of the glycans form cross-links to peptides of neighboring glycans. The peptides pointing out of the plane that are present on every second disaccharide are not shown. Dark gray bars, MurNAc; light gray bars, GlcNAc; solid lines, peptide cross-links.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Model of a layered murein consisting of glycan strands consisting of seven disaccharide units. Only the cross-linked peptides in the planar layer are indicated by arrows. For the sake of clarity, the peptides pointing out of the plane (up or down) on every second disaccharide are not shown. Note that in real murein the lengths of glycan strands are not uniform but range from 1 to about 80 disaccharide units, and the average length is 25 to 35 disaccharide units. Dark gray bars, MurNAc; light gray bars, GlcNAc, arrows, peptides.
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References

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