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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Oct 7.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Microbiol. 2020 Mar 9;5(6):813–820. doi: 10.1038/s41564-020-0687-z

Figure 1 |. Crystal structure of Thermus thermophilus RodA:PBP2 peptidoglycan synthase complex.

Figure 1 |

a, RodA polymerizes glycans strands from lipid II precursor molecules and PBP2 crosslinks the newly formed glycans to the existing peptidoglycan cell wall. b, Structure of RodA:PBP2 complex viewed parallel to the membrane plane. The active site residue (Ser308) in the TP domain of PBP2 and Asp255 in RodA are shown as red and orange spheres, respectively. A short peptide that was modeled in the pedestal domain was removed for clarity. c, Surface view showing two distinct interfaces. Interface I (orange) is within the membrane plane, while interface II (pink) lies above the membrane. d, Comparison of the structure of RodA in isolation (PDB code: 6BAR; grey) and RodA in complex with PBP2 (green). Newly resolved residues in extracellular loop 4 (ECL4) of RodA in the PBP2 complex are highlighted in purple. e, Top down surface view cross-section of the highly conserved membrane-accessible cavities in both RodA stuctures.