Nearly all bacteria have a cell wall that is essential for their cellular stability. The main component of this cell wall is a chemical polymer called the peptidoglycan. This polymer resembles a mesh-like network that can expand and shrink according to a bacterium’s needs throughout its life cycle. Peptidoglycan has often been labelled as the Achilles’ heel of bacteria, as disrupting peptidoglycan leads to bacterial death in most cases.
Our most important arsenal against bacteria (i.e., most our antibiotics) work by attacking peptidoglycan! Bacteria are indeed aware of this weakness, and most can modify their peptidoglycan to prevent an attack. For scientists, the current challenge is to develop new weapons against this polymer in the face of constant bacterial evolution.
