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. 1977 Dec;74(12):5472–5476. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5472

Thermosensitive mutation in Escherichia coli simultaneously causing defects in penicillin-binding protein-1Bs and in enzyme activity for peptidoglycan synthesis in vitro.

S Tamaki, S Nakajima, M Matsuhashi
PMCID: PMC431769  PMID: 341159

Abstract

A thermosensitive mutant of Escherichia coli K-12 was isolated in which the membrane fractions were deficient both in penicillin-binding protein-1Bs, the major components of protein 1 [Spratt, B.G. & Pardee, A.B. (1975) Nature 254, 516-517] and in activity for in vitro peptidoglycan synthesis. The mutant was also supersensitive to many kinds of beta-lactam antibiotics. All these phenotypic changes were found to be caused by a single mutation (mrc). Genetic mapping studies show that the mrc mutation was located at about 3.3 min on the E. coli chromosome linkage map [Bachmann, B.J., Low, K.B. & Taylor, A.L. (1976) Bacteriol. Rev. 40, 116-167]. Penicillin-binding protein-1Bs seemed to be identical to one of the essential enzymes involved in crosslinking of peptidoglycan and the target of cell-lytic action of penicillins. Possible functions of some other penicillin-binding proteins in compensating for lack of protein-1Bs were also proposed.

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Selected References

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