Structure, function, and assembly of cell walls of gram-positive bacteria.

INTRODUCTION 501 DEFINITION OF THE CELL WALL OF GRAM-POSITIVE BACTERIA 502 IMPORTANT CHEMICAL FEATURES OF GRAM-POSITIVE WALL STRUCTURE 503 FUNCTIONS OF THE WALL 505 CELL WALL ASSEMBLy 507 REGULATION AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF WALL POLYMER ASSEMBLY.. 512 TOPOLOGY OF WALL STRUCTURE AND ASSEMBLy 514 THE POSSIBLE ROLE(S) OF ENDOGENOUS PG HYDROLASES IN WALL ASSEMBLY AND POST-ASSEMBLY MODIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 REGULATION OF PG HYDROLASE ACTIVITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 CONCLUDING REMARKS AND PERSPECTIVES 523