O-Acetylated peptidoglycan: controlling the activity of bacterial autolysins and lytic enzymes of innate immune systems.

The O-acetylation of peptidoglycan is now known to occur in 50 different bacterial species, both Gram positive and Gram negative, including a number of important human pathogens. This modification to the essential cell wall component of bacteria provides both a level of control over endogenous autolysins and protection from the lysozymes of innate immune systems. In this review, we describe the details of the pathways for peptidoglycan O-acetylation that are now beginning to emerge and we explore the possibility that the associated enzymes may present new candidates for antibacterial targets.