Research Topic Bacterial Cell Wall Architecture & Metabolism – An intact cell wall is essential for bacterial viability in the natural habitat. Thus, the bacterial cell wall has traditionally been a powerful antibacterial target. We aim to understand how bacteria stick their cell wall together and how the underlaying molecular logic can be exploited for novel antibacterial strategies. For this endeavor, we are using, among others, the model bacterium Paenibacillus alvei as a cell wall mimic for Bacillus anthracis, where a pyruvylated β-D-N-acetyl-mannosamine residue of a secondary cell wall polymer serves as a cell wall ligand for proteins containing an evolutionary conserved SLH-domain trimer. We analyze protein-carbohydrate interactions involving rational protein design, synthetic chemistry, molecular modelling and simulation, and X-ray crystallography.
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Secondary cell wall polymer ligand binding to the S-layer protein SpaA from Paenibacillus alvei showing a significant domain movement in an SLH-Gly29 mutant. © Stephen V. Evans, Univ. Victoria, Canada.
To learn about the survival strategy in the oral habitat, we are unraveling the cell wall metabolism of the oral pathogen Tannerella forsythia, which is auxotrophic for the essential peptidoglycan cell wall sugar N-acetylmuramic acid. This topic is based on cell wall enzymology, metabolomics, and imaging.
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Scanning electron micrograph of T. forsythia cells under N-acetylmuramic acid starvation, evident by transition of a rod-shaped, healthy phenotype into a fusiform phenotype. © Valentin Friedrich, Schäffer Research Group, BOKU Vienna.