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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: APMIS. 2010 Jan;118(1):1–36. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0463.2009.02563.x

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

Schematic representation of the (A) S. aureus and (B) Escherichia coli murein monomers. (A) In S. aureus, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid form the backbone of the murein. It is attached to pentapeptides containing L-alanine, D-glutamc acid, L-lysine and D-alanyl-D-alanine. The two pentapeptides are linked with a penta-glycine cross bridge. (B) In Escherichia coli, the murein backbone is composed of the same sugar moieties as S. aureus, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid. The backbone is attached to pentapeptides containing L-alanine, D-glutamic acid, L-diaminopimelic acid and D-alanyl-D-alanine. Cross-linking occurs between diaminopimelic acid and D-alanine. The D-alanines in red boxes are usually liberated upon transpeptidation.