Hijacking the Peptidoglycan Recycling Pathway of Escherichia coli to Produce Muropeptides

Muropeptides are short peptidoglycan fragments released from the cell wall of bacteria as part of their metabolism or as a result of biological stresses. These compounds trigger immune responses in mammals and plants. In bacteria, they play a major role in the induction of antibiotic resistance. In order to better understand these processes, we developed a new synthetic approach which combines synthetic biology and glycochemistry to prepare Gram (–) and Gram (+) muropeptides.