The Absence of a Mature Cell Wall Sacculus in Stable Listeria monocytogenes L-Form Cells Is Independent of Peptidoglycan Synthesis

PLoS One. 2016 May 5;11(5):e0154925. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154925. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

L-forms are cell wall-deficient variants of otherwise walled bacteria that maintain the ability to survive and proliferate in absence of the surrounding peptidoglycan sacculus. While transient or unstable L-forms can revert to the walled state and may still rely on residual peptidoglycan synthesis for multiplication, stable L-forms cannot revert to the walled form and are believed to propagate in the complete absence of peptidoglycan. L-forms are increasingly studied as a fundamental biological model system for cell wall synthesis. Here, we show that a stable L-form of the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes features a surprisingly intact peptidoglycan synthesis pathway including glycosyl transfer, in spite of the accumulation of multiple mutations during prolonged passage in the cell wall-deficient state. Microscopic and biochemical analysis revealed the presence of peptidoglycan precursors and functional glycosyl transferases, resulting in the formation of peptidoglycan polymers but without the synthesis of a mature cell wall sacculus. In conclusion, we found that stable, non-reverting L-forms, which do not require active PG synthesis for proliferation, may still continue to produce aberrant peptidoglycan.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Wall / metabolism*
  • L Forms / metabolism*
  • Listeria monocytogenes / metabolism*
  • Peptidoglycan / metabolism*
  • Transferases / metabolism

Substances

  • Peptidoglycan
  • Transferases

Grants and funding

The work in the MJL lab was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project number 144179). The work at the JAA lab was supported by grant BFU 2009-09200 from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) of Spain. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.