In Situ Probing of Newly Synthesized Peptidoglycan in Live Bacteria with Fluorescent D ‐Amino Acids

Tracking a bug's life: Peptidoglycan (PG) of diverse bacteria is labeled by exploiting the tolerance of cells for incorporating different non-natural D-amino acids. These nontoxic D-amino acids preferably label the sites of active PG synthesis, thereby enabling fine spatiotemporal tracking of cell-wall dynamics in phylogenetically and morphologically diverse bacteria. HCC=7-hydroxycoumarin, NBD=7-nitrobenzofurazan, TAMRA=carboxytetramethylrhodamine. Bacterial growth is controlled by the peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall, a rigid and essential structure composed of glycan strands cross-linked by D-amino acid (DAA)-containing short peptides, the biosynthesis machinery of which is a high-value target for antibiotics.1…