Bacterial pathogens produce complex carbohydrate capsules to protect against bactericidal immune molecules. Paradoxically, the pneumococcal capsule sensitizes the bacterium to antimicrobial peptides found on epithelial surfaces. Here we show that upon interaction with antimicrobial peptides, encapsulated pneumococci survive by removing capsule from the cell surface within minutes in a process d...

Miltefosine (hexadecylphosphocholine), the first oral drug against visceral leishmaniasis, triggered pneumococcal autolysis at concentrations higher than 2.5 microM. Bactericidal activity was also observed in cultures of other streptococci, although these failed to undergo lysis. The autolysis elicited by miltefosine can be attributed to triggering of the pneumococcal autolysin LytA.

Using the quick-freeze, deep-etch technique, we have analyzed the structure of the intact cell wall of Chlamydomonas reinhardi, and have visualized its component glycoproteins after mechanical shearing and after depolymerization induced by perchlorate or by the wall-disrupting agent, autolysin. The intact wall has previously been shown in a thin-section study (Roberts, K., M. Gurney-Smith, and ...

Whole-cell autolytic activity of prototypical glycopeptide-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (GISA) Mu50 was reduced versus that of hetero-GISA Mu3 and glycopeptide-susceptible S. aureus, consistent with other GISA strains. In contrast, autolytic activity was relatively high in Mu50 crude cell walls and autolysin extracts against purified cell walls, reflecting the complexities of autolytic ac...

Bacillus subtilis yabE encodes a predicted resuscitation-promoting factor/stationary-phase survival (Rpf/Sps) family autolysin. Here, we demonstrate that yabE is negatively regulated by a cis-acting antisense RNA which, in turn, is regulated by two extracytoplasmic function sigma factors: sigma(X) and sigma(M).