Perspective
Nature Reviews Microbiology 4, 710-716 (September 2006) | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1486
Opinion: Breaching the great wall: peptidoglycan and microbial interactions
Karen A. Cloud-Hansen1, S. Brook Peterson1, Eric V. Stabb2, William E. Goldman3, Margaret J. McFall-Ngai4 and Jo Handelsman1 About the authors
Abstract
Once thought to be a process that occurred only in a few human pathogens, release of biologically active peptidoglycan fragments during growth by Gram-negative bacteria controls many types of bacterial interaction, including symbioses and interactions between microorganisms. This Perspective explores the role of peptidoglycan fragments in mediating a range of microbial–host interactions, and discusses the many systems in which peptidoglycan fragments released during bacterial growth might be active.
Author affiliations
- Karen A. Cloud-Hansen, S. Brook Peterson and Jo Handelsman are at the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
- Eric V. Stabb is at the Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, 828 Biological Sciences, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.
- William E. Goldman is at the Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
- Margaret J. McFall-Ngai is at the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
Correspondence to: Jo Handelsman1 Email: joh@plantpath.wisc.edu