| Cell Wall |
| The cell wall is a critical structure in bacterial cells. Most bacterial can not live without them. Without something supporting the membrane the cell would swell and burst. The cell wall also determines the shape of the cell. Any cell that has lost its cell wall, either artifically or naturally, becomes amorphic, without a defined shape. Cell structure and synethesis is unique to procaryotes.Plants also makes cell walls, but they are completely different structure. Many compounds found in the bacterial cell wall are found no where else in nature. There are numerous antibacterial agents threat target the cell wall because mammals don't synthesize walls and therefore the immune to the toxic effects of these agents Lyzosomes is an enzyme found in tears and saliva, that breaks down a component of cell wall and it is a critical part of the mammalian defense against bacterial invasion. There are two basic types of bacterial cell walll structures that have been studied in details Gram positive(G+) and Gram negative(G-). G+ cells are purple and G- cells are red. Peptidogly is a thick rigid layer that is found in both G+ and G- cells. It composed of a overlapping lattice of two sugars that are crosslinked by amino acids bridges. A cell cannot survive without a cell membrane. Ribosomes are found in two places of the cell wall , the cytosol and the endoplasmic reticulum. Helpful links: www.google.com www.askjeeves.com |
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| Ciera Baker 3rd period |