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Bacterial cell walls contain peptidoglycan, while archaeal cell walls vary in composition, potentially consisting of glycoprotein S-layers, pseudopeptidoglycan, or polysaccharides. Fungi possess cell walls constructed from the polymer chitin, specifically N-acetylglucosamine. diatoms have a unique cell wall composed of biogenic silica. [2]
Bacteria have microcompartments, quasi-organelles enclosed in protein shells such as encapsulin protein cages, [4] [5] while both bacteria and some archaea have gas vesicles. [6] Prokaryotes have simple cell skeletons. These are highly diverse, and contain homologues of the eukaryote proteins actin and tubulin. The cytoskeleton provides the ...
As in other organisms, the bacterial cell wall provides structural integrity to the cell. In prokaryotes, the primary function of the cell wall is to protect the cell from internal turgor pressure caused by the much higher concentrations of proteins and other molecules inside the cell compared to its external environment.
Though most prokaryotes have both a cell membrane and a cell wall, there are exceptions such as Mycoplasma (bacteria) and Thermoplasma (archaea) which only possess the cell membrane layer. The envelope gives rigidity to the cell and separates the interior of the cell from its environment, serving as a protective filter.
Schematic illustration of the supramolecular architecture of the major classes of prokaryotic cell envelopes containing surface (S) layers. S-layers in archaea with glycoprotein lattices as exclusive wall component are composed either of mushroom-like subunits with pillar-like, hydrophobic trans-membrane domains (a), or lipid-modified glycoprotein subunits (b).
Since the cell wall is required for bacterial survival, but is absent in some eukaryotes, several antibiotics (notably the penicillins and cephalosporins) stop bacterial infections by interfering with cell wall synthesis, while having no effects on human cells which have no cell wall, only a cell membrane
The bactofilin protein, BacM, is required for proper cell shape maintenance and cell wall integrity. M. xanthus cells lacking BacM have a deformed morphology characterized by a bent cell body, and bacM mutants have decreased resistance to antibiotics targeting the bacterial cell wall.
Around the outside of the cell membrane is the cell wall. Bacterial cell walls are made of peptidoglycan (also called murein), which is made from polysaccharide chains cross-linked by peptides containing D-amino acids. [75] Bacterial cell walls are different from the cell walls of plants and fungi, which are made of cellulose and chitin ...