Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
Current affiliation: Biophysics and Biochemistry Department, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA; email:
Annu Rev Biochem. 2018 Jun 20;87:991-1014. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-062917-012921. Epub 2018 Mar 29.
Peptidoglycan is an essential component of the cell wall that protects bacteria from environmental stress. A carefully coordinated biosynthesis of peptidoglycan during cell elongation and division is required for cell viability. This biosynthesis involves sophisticated enzyme machineries that dynamically synthesize, remodel, and degrade peptidoglycan. However, when and where bacteria build peptidoglycan, and how this is coordinated with cell growth, have been long-standing questions in the field. The improvement of microscopy techniques has provided powerful approaches to study peptidoglycan biosynthesis with high spatiotemporal resolution. Recent development of molecular probes further accelerated the growth of the field, which has advanced our knowledge of peptidoglycan biosynthesis dynamics and mechanisms. Here, we review the technologies for imaging the bacterial cell wall and its biosynthesis activity. We focus on the applications of fluorescent d-amino acids, a newly developed type of probe, to visualize and study peptidoglycan synthesis and dynamics, and we provide direction for prospective research.
肽聚糖是细胞壁的重要组成部分，可保护细菌免受环境压力的影响。在细胞伸长和分裂过程中，需要精心协调的肽聚糖生物合成才能维持细胞活力。这种生物合成涉及复杂的酶机器，可动态合成、重塑和降解肽聚糖。然而，细菌在何时何地构建肽聚糖，以及如何与细胞生长相协调，一直是该领域的长期存在的问题。显微镜技术的改进为以高时空分辨率研究肽聚糖生物合成提供了强大的方法。分子探针的最新发展进一步加速了该领域的发展，提高了我们对肽聚糖生物合成动力学和机制的认识。在这里，我们综述了用于成像细菌细胞壁及其生物合成活性的技术。我们重点介绍了荧光 D-氨基酸这一新型探针在可视化和研究肽聚糖合成和动力学方面的应用，并为未来的研究提供了方向。
