The distinction between different cell-envelope architectures has defined much of our thinking about bacterial systematics, but the evolution of different envelope layers has been harder to understand. A recent publication focused on the non-model organism Acetonema longum provides important clues to the possible origin of the second membrane typical of Gram-negative bacteria.
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Acknowledgements
I thank J. Errington and K. Gerdes for critical comments. This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK) and the European Commission (DIVINOCELL project).
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Vollmer, W. Bacterial outer membrane evolution via sporulation?. Nat Chem Biol 8, 14–18 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.748
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.748
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