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The chemical structure of the outer membrane's lipopolysaccharide is often unique to specific bacterial sub-species and is responsible for many of the antigenic properties of these strains. In addition to the peptidoglycan layer the Gram-negative cell wall also contains an additional outer membrane composed of phospholipids and ...
The outer membranes of a bacterium can contain a huge number of proteins. In E. Coli for example there are around 500,000 in the membrane. [5] Bacterial outer membrane proteins typically have a unique beta barrel structure that spans the membrane. The beta barrels fold to expose a hydrophobic surface before their insertion into the outer membrane.
Instead, the extracellular forms of these Gram-negative bacteria maintain their structural integrity by relying on a layer of disulfide bond cross-linked cysteine-rich proteins, which is located between cytoplasmic membrane and outer membrane in a manner analogous to the peptidoglycan layer in other Gram-negative bacteria. [4]
There are two basic types of transmembrane proteins: [4] alpha-helical and beta barrels. Alpha-helical proteins are present in the inner membranes of bacterial cells or the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells, and sometimes in the bacterial outer membrane. [5] This is the major category of transmembrane proteins.
Sixteen- or eighteen-stranded up-and-down beta barrel structures occur in porins, which function as transporters for ions and small molecules that cannot diffuse across a cellular membrane. Such structures appear in the outer membranes of gram-negative bacteria, chloroplasts, and mitochondria.
BamA is a β-barrel, outer membrane protein found in Gram-negative bacteria and it is the main and vital component of the β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) complex in those bacteria. [1] BAM Complex consists of five components; BamB, BamC, BamD, BamE (all are lipoproteins ) and BamA (Outer membrane protein).
All porins form homotrimers in the outer membrane, meaning that three identical porin subunits associate together to form a porin super-structure with three channels. [5] Hydrogen bonding and dipole-dipole interactions between each monomer in the homotrimer ensure that they do not dissociate, and remain together in the outer membrane.
As shown in the figure to the right, the periplasmic space in gram-negative or diderm bacteria is located between the inner and outer membrane of the cell. The periplasm contains peptidoglycan and the membranes that enclose the periplasmic space contain many integral membrane proteins, which can participate in cell signaling.