Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Planctomycetes are intriguing microorganisms that apparently lack peptidoglycan, a structure that controls the shape and integrity of almost all bacterial cells. Therefore, the planctomycetal cell envelope is considered exceptional and their cell plan uniquely compartmentalized. Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) Planctomycetes play a key role in the global nitrogen cycle by releasing fixed nitrogen back to the atmosphere as N2. Here using a complementary array of state-of-the-art techniques including continuous culturing, cryo-transmission electron microscopy, peptidoglycan-specific probes and muropeptide analysis, we show that the anammox bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis contains peptidoglycan. On the basis of the thickness, composition and location of peptidoglycan in K. stuttgartiensis, we propose to redefine Planctomycetes as Gram-negative bacteria. Our results demonstrate that Planctomycetes are not an exception to the universal presence of peptidoglycan in bacteria.
Source: Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7878
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Awards: A major source of nitrogen for our atmosphere: molecular mechanism of anaerobic ammonium oxidation, Anammox bacteria: unique prokaryotes with a 'prokaryotic organelle' and unusual cell envelope organization, Dynamics of bacterial peptidoglycan synthesis, Control of bacterial zonal growth and differentiation, Anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria: unique prokayotes with exceptional properties, Acquisition of a DeltaVision OMX Super-Resolution Imaging System
OpenAlex ID: W767528777