A new metabolic cell-wall labelling method reveals peptidoglycan in Chlamydia trachomatis.

ABSTRACT: Peptidoglycan (PG), an essential structure in the cell walls of the vast majority of bacteria, is critical for division and maintaining cell shape and hydrostatic pressure. Bacteria comprising the Chlamydiales were thought to be one of the few exceptions. Chlamydia harbour genes for PG biosynthesis and exhibit susceptibility to 'anti-PG' antibiotics, yet attempts to detect PG in any chlamydial species have proven unsuccessful (the 'chlamydial anomaly'). We used a novel approach to metabolically label chlamydial PG using d-amino acid dipeptide probes and click chemistry. Replicating Chlamydia trachomatis were labelled with these probes throughout their biphasic developmental life cycle, and the results of differential probe incorporation experiments conducted in the presence of ampicillin a

SUBMITTER: Liechti GW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3997218 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature