Teichoic acids and acidic capsular polysaccharides are major anionic cell wall polymers (APs) in many bacteria, with various critical cell functions, including maintenance of cell shape and structural integrity, charge and cation homeostasis, and multiple aspects of pathogenesis. We have identified the widespread LytR-Cps2A-Psr (LCP) protein family, of previously unknown function, as novel enzymes required for AP synthesis. Structural and biochemical analysis of several LCP proteins suggest that they carry out the final step of transferring APs from their lipid-linked precursor to cell wall peptidoglycan (PG). In Bacillus subtilis, LCP proteins are found in association with the MreB cytoskeleton, suggesting that MreB proteins coordinate the insertion of the major polymers, PG and AP, into the cell wall.

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SummaryPeptidoglycan surrounds the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane to protect the cell against osmolysis. The biosynthesis of peptidoglycan, made of glycan strands crosslinked by short peptides, is the target of antibiotics like β-lactams and glycopeptides. Nascent peptidoglycan contains pentapeptides that are trimmed by carboxypeptidases to tetra- and tripeptides. The well-characterized DD-carboxypeptidases hydrolyze the terminal D-alanine from the stem pentapeptide to produce a tetrapeptide. However, few LD-carboxypeptidases that produce tripeptides have been identified, and nothing is known about substrate specificity in these enzymes. We report biochemical properties and crystal structures of the LD-carboxypeptidases LdcB from Streptococcus pneumoniae, Bacillus anthracis, and Bacillus subtilis. The enzymes are active against bacterial cell wall tetrapeptides and adopt a zinc-carboxypeptidase fold characteristic of the LAS superfamily. We have also solved the structure of S. pneumoniae LdcB with a product mimic, elucidating the residues essential for peptidoglycan recognition and the conformational changes that occur on ligand binding.

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