For vancomycin staining, Van-Alexa568 (5 μg/ml) was added to each culture at the end of tetracycline induction and further incubated for 20 min before examining by a fluorescence microscope. Average GFP and Van-Alex568 intensity from cells with pknB Mtb -overexpression selleck chemicals relative to that of cells without pknB Mtb -overexpression are shown at the bottom of each panel. (p-value for the difference in GFP signals = 1.63 × 10-11, and for Van-Alexa568 signals = 1.82

× 10-7). Phosphorylation of GFP-Wag31 by pknB Mtb -overexpression is shown at the bottom panel. 200 μg of total protein was used for 2-D PAGE and Western blot analysis with a phospho-(S/T)Q antibody, which was then stripped before conducting a subsequent Western blot with a GFP antibody. bar, 5 μm. Phosphorylation of Wag31 affects the enzymatic activity of the peptidoglycan AZD6244 price biosynthetic pathway Bacterial peptidoglycan synthesis is a complex process involving many different cytoplasmic and membrane steps [17]. In Escherichia coli, the cytoplasmic steps culminate in the formation of the UDP-MurNAc-(pentapeptide)

catalyzed by a series of enzymatic activities of Mur proteins (MurA, MurB, MurC, MurD, MurE and MurF). The membrane-associated steps are then initiated with the formation of MurNAc-(pentapeptide)-selleckchem diphosphoryl-undecaprenol (lipid I), a reaction catalyzed by MraY [18]. In a subsequent step by MurG, one GlcNAc residue is added to lipid I to form GlcNAc-MurNAc-(pentapeptide)-diphosphoryl-undecaprenol (lipid II), which is flipped to the outer surface of the membrane to be incorporated into the preexisting peptidoglycan by penicillin

binding proteins. The structure of mycobacterial peptidoglycan is believed to be similar to that of E. coli, although it has a few differences [19]. The same appears to be true for its biosynthesis because M. tuberculosis possesses all eight mur genes that are present in E. coli [20]. Our results described so far suggest that the phosphorylation of Wag31 has an influence on cell growth, at least in part, by regulating its polar localization Bumetanide and possibly the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan precursors. These data led us to hypothesize that Wag31 phosphorylation regulates polar peptidoglycan synthesis by affecting, directly or indirectly, the peptidoglycan synthetic machinery. To address this, the activity of Mur enzymes was determined among the wag31 Msm deletion mutant strains expressing different wag31 alleles. We began with measuring the combined activity of MraY and MurG because these enzymes produce the final membrane-bound disaccharide-pentapeptide product.