Beta Lactam Antibiotics
⦁ Bacterial cell walls consist of a mesh-like layer of peptidoglycan (PG) which enables
bacteria to resist intracellular osmotic pressures and build cellular integrity.
Disruption of this cell wall synthesis would be bactericidal where loss in integrity can
lead to cell death by the cell rupture in hypotonic medium explaining the heavy use
of beta lactams.
⦁ PG is a polymer of sugars and amino acids. Peptidoglycan synthesis: (Yao Liu and
Eefjan Breukink, The Membrane Steps of Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis as Antibiotic Targets,
Antibiotics 2016, 5, 28) Diagram below
⦁ C55-P- membrane anchor that becomes Lipid I and Lipid II
⦁ MurNAc (NAM): N-acetylmuramic acid
⦁ GlcNAc (NAG): N-acetylglucosamine
⦁ Flippase: transports Lipid II from inner to outer side of membrane where
polymerisation occurs
1
, ⦁ PBP domains:
2
⦁ Bacterial cell walls consist of a mesh-like layer of peptidoglycan (PG) which enables
bacteria to resist intracellular osmotic pressures and build cellular integrity.
Disruption of this cell wall synthesis would be bactericidal where loss in integrity can
lead to cell death by the cell rupture in hypotonic medium explaining the heavy use
of beta lactams.
⦁ PG is a polymer of sugars and amino acids. Peptidoglycan synthesis: (Yao Liu and
Eefjan Breukink, The Membrane Steps of Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis as Antibiotic Targets,
Antibiotics 2016, 5, 28) Diagram below
⦁ C55-P- membrane anchor that becomes Lipid I and Lipid II
⦁ MurNAc (NAM): N-acetylmuramic acid
⦁ GlcNAc (NAG): N-acetylglucosamine
⦁ Flippase: transports Lipid II from inner to outer side of membrane where
polymerisation occurs
1
, ⦁ PBP domains:
2
