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Breaching the great wall: peptidoglycan and microbial interactions

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 4, pages 710–716 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Once thought to be a process that occurred only in a few human pathogens, release of biologically active peptidoglycan fragments during growth by Gram-negative bacteria controls many types of bacterial interaction, including symbioses and interactions between microorganisms. This Perspective explores the role of peptidoglycan fragments in mediating a range of microbial?host interactions, and discusses the many systems in which peptidoglycan fragments released during bacterial growth might be active.

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Figure 1: Peptidoglycan and tracheal cytotoxin structure.
Figure 2: Peptidoglycan and Euprymna scolopes ?Vibrio fischeri symbiosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, 53706, Wisconsin, USA

    Karen A. Cloud-Hansen, S. Brook Peterson & Jo Handelsman

  2. Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, 828 Biological Sciences, Athens, 30602, Georgia, USA

    Eric V. Stabb

  3. Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 Euclid Avenue, St Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    William E. Goldman

  4. Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, 53706, Wisconsin, USA

    Margaret J. McFall-Ngai

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  1. Karen A. Cloud-Hansen
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  2. S. Brook Peterson
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Correspondence to Jo Handelsman.

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DATABASES

Entrez Genome Project

Bacillus cereus

Bordetella pertussis

Brugia malayi

Chlamydophilia pneumoniae

Chlamydia trachomatis

Erwinia amylovora

Escherichia coli

Flavobacterium johnsoniae

Haemophilus influenzae

Helicobacter pylori

Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Neisseria meningitides

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Ralstonia solanacearum

Salmonella typhimurium

Serratia marcescens

Shigella flexneri

Vibrio fischeri

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Cloud-Hansen, K., Peterson, S., Stabb, E. et al. Breaching the great wall: peptidoglycan and microbial interactions. Nat Rev Microbiol 4, 710–716 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1486

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