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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Microbiol. 2017 Nov 20;107(1):47–56. doi: 10.1111/mmi.13872

Fig. 3. Potential changes in cell-surface architecture during LOS/lipid A deficiency.

Fig. 3

Left: A wild-type Gram-negative cell envelope with typical asymmetry in the outer membrane. Right: A depiction of putative mechanisms for altering the cell envelope and fortifying the membrane in the absence of asymmetry. Lipoproteins exposed to the surface (Boll et al., 2016) could play a critical role in filling space in a more porous outer leaflet. The capacity for A. baumannii to glycosylate these lipoproteins hints at a potential mechanism for mimicking LOS. The generation of capsular polysaccharide and exopolysaccharide provide an additional level of protection that could impede the influx of noxious compounds and buffer the LOS-deficient cell from the environment.