Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylviusweg 72, 2333, BE, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE2 4AX, UK.
Trends Microbiol. 2019 Dec;27(12):1025-1033. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2019.07.008. Epub 2019 Aug 13.
The cell wall is a surface layer located outside the cell membrane of almost all bacteria; it protects cells from environmental stresses and gives them their typical shape. The cell wall is highly conserved in bacteria and is the target for some of our best antibiotics. Surprisingly, some bacteria are able to shed their wall under the influence of stress, yielding cells that are cell-wall-deficient. Notably, wall-deficient cells are flexible and are able to maneuver through narrow spaces, insensitive to wall-targeting antibiotics, and capable of taking up and exchanging DNA. Moreover, given that wall-associated epitopes are often recognized by host defense systems, wall deficiency provides a plausible explanation for how some bacteria may hide in their host. In this review we focus on this paradoxical stress response, which provides cells with unique opportunities that are unavailable to walled cells.
细胞壁是几乎所有细菌细胞膜外的一层表面层；它保护细胞免受环境压力的影响，并赋予它们典型的形状。细胞壁在细菌中高度保守，是我们一些最好的抗生素的靶标。令人惊讶的是，一些细菌能够在压力的影响下脱落细胞壁，产生细胞壁缺陷的细胞。值得注意的是，细胞壁缺陷的细胞具有柔韧性，能够在狭窄的空间中移动，对细胞壁靶向抗生素不敏感，并且能够摄取和交换 DNA。此外，由于与细胞壁相关的表位通常被宿主防御系统识别，细胞壁缺陷为某些细菌如何在其宿主中隐藏提供了一个合理的解释。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了这种矛盾的应激反应，它为细胞提供了独特的机会，而这些机会是无法提供给有细胞壁的细胞的。
