Bacterial Cell Wall Homeostasis

This volume brings together the most widely used and important protocols currently being employed in researching and understanding bacterial cell wall homeostasis. Chapters in Bacterial Cell Wall Homeostasis cover a variety of subjects, such as: modern microscopy techniques and other biophysical methods used to characterize the subcellular structure of the bacterial cell wall; high-throughput approaches that can be used to identify all the genes and proteins that participate in the correct functioning of an organism{u2019}s cell wall; protocols for assaying individual gene products for specific cell wall functions or identify chemicals with inhibitory activity against the cell wall; and methods for analyzing the non-protein components of the cell wall and the increasing use of computational approaches for predicting and modeling cell wall related functions and processes. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introduction to their respective topics, lists of the necessary material and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Thorough and cutting-edge, Bacterial Cell Wall Homeostasis: Methods and Protocols emphasizes the diversity of the research taking place in bacterial cell wall homeostasis, and explains how the integration of information from across multiple disciplines is going to be essential if a holistic understanding of this important process is to be obtained. .

This volume brings together the most widely used and important protocols currently being employed in researching and understanding bacterial cell wall homeostasis. Chapters in Bacterial Cell Wall Homeostasis cover a variety of subjects, such as: modern microscopy techniques and other biophysical methods used to characterize the subcellular structure of the bacterial cell wall; high-throughput approaches that can be used to identify all the genes and proteins that participate in the correct functioning of an organism’s cell wall; protocols for assaying individual gene products for specific cell wall functions or identify chemicals with inhibitory activity against the cell wall; and methods for analyzing the non-protein components of the cell wall and the increasing use of computational approaches for predicting and modeling cell wall related functions and processes. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introduction to their respective topics, lists of the necessary material and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Thorough and cutting-edge, Bacterial Cell Wall Homeostasis: Methods and Protocols emphasizes the diversity of the research taking place in bacterial cell wall homeostasis, and explains how the integration of information from across multiple disciplines is going to be essential if a holistic understanding of this important process is to be obtained.

This detailed volume explores methods currently used to investigate the cell wall of various bacterial species and pathogens. By using a combination of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cytological techniques, the protocols address many fundamental questions involving the composition, biosynthesis, and regulation of bacterial peptidoglycan. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, as well as tips for troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, The Bacterial Cell Wall: Methods and Protocols provides current and future researchers with a compilation of many of the most important and useful procedures in a single resource.

Bacterial cells are encased in a cell wall, which is required to maintain cell shape and to confer physical strength to the cell. The cell wall allows bacteria to cope with osmotic and environmental challenges and to secure cell integrity during all stages of bacterial growth and propagation, and thus has to be sufficiently rigid. Moreover, to accommodate growth processes, the cell wall at the same time has to be a highly dynamic structure: During cell enlargement, division, and differentiation, bacteria continuously remodel, degrade, and resynthesize their cell wall, but pivotally need to assure cell integrity during these processes. Finally, the cell wall is also adjusted according to both environmental constraints and metabolic requirements. However, how exactly this is achieved is not fully understood. The major structural component of the bacterial cell wall is peptidoglycan (PG), a mesh-like polymer of glycan chains interlinked by short-chain peptides, constituting a net-like macromolecular structure that has historically also termed murein or murein sacculus. Although the basic structure of PG is conserved among bacteria, considerable variations occur regarding cross-bridging, modifications, and attachments. Moreover, different structural arrangements of the cell envelope exist within bacteria: a thin PG layer sandwiched between an inner and outer membrane is present in Gram-negative bacteria, and a thick PG layer decorated with secondary glycopolymers including teichoic acids, is present in Gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, even more complex envelope structures exist, such as those found in mycobacteria. Crucially, all bacteria possess a multitude of often redundant lytic enzymes, termed “autolysins”, and other cell wall modifying and synthesizing enzymes, allowing to degrade and rebuild the various structures covering the cells. However, how cell wall turnover and cell wall biosynthesis are coordinated during different stages of bacterial growth is currently unclear. The mechanisms that prevent cell lysis during these processes are also unclear. This Research Topic focuses on the dynamics of the bacterial cell wall, its modifications, and structural rearrangements during cell growth and differentiation. It pays particular attention to the turnover of PG, its breakdown and recycling, as well as the regulation of these processes. Other structures, for example, secondary polymers such as teichoic acids, which are dynamically changed during bacterial growth and differentiation, are also covered. In recent years, our view on the bacterial cell envelope has undergone a dramatic change that challenged old models of cell wall structure, biosynthesis, and turnover. This collection of articles aims to contribute to new understandings of bacterial cell wall structure and dynamics.

Being small and compartmentalized, most micro-organisms do not have the advantage that many large multicellular organisms possess. Consequently, a whole range of rapidly acting mechanisms have evolved in them. This symposium covered those mechanisms. The 44th FEMS Symposium covered the major environmental streses and the major compensating homeostatic mechanisms, highlighting the parallel strategies that have evolved, as well as the contrasting ones. The Symposium also considered practically useful means for utilising, or interfering with, homeostasis (e.g. use of antibiotics and some organic acid food preservatives to collapse homeostatic chemiosmotic gradiets and inhibition of repair.

Concise chapters, written by experts in the field, cover a wide spectrum of topics on lipid and membrane formation in microbes (Archaea, Bacteria, eukaryotic microbes).All cells are delimited by a lipid membrane, which provides a crucial boundary in any known form of life. Readers will discover significant chapters on microbial lipid-carrying biomolecules and lipid/membrane-associated structures and processes.