Penicillin-binding proteins articles from across Nature Portfolio

Penicillin inhibits growth of chlamydial pathogens despite their lack of a conventional peptidoglycan cell wall. Here the authors report that the chlamydial amidase, AmiA, which can rescue cell division defects of an E. coli amiAmutant, has dual activity as a penicillin sensitive, lipid II-targetting carboxypeptidase.

A recent study reports that host lysozyme counteracts β-lactam-mediated killing of some bacteria by promoting efficient L-form switching.