Question

What is pseudopeptidoglycan?

Answer 1

Pseudopeptidoglycan (also known as pseudomurein) is a major cell wall component of some archaea that differs from bacterial peptidoglycan in chemical structure, but resembles eubacterial peptidoglycan in morphology, function, and physical structure.

Peptidoglycan is the basic component of the bacterial cell wall, which is the protective structure that surrounds and protects most bacteria.

Unlike bacteria,archaea (mostly methanogens), have cell walls made of pseudopeptidoglycan which makes these archaea resistant to the enzyme, lysozyme.

In peptidoglycan, the two sugars are N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) and N-acetylmuramic (NAM) acid.
In pseudopeptidoglycan, the NAM is replaced by N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid (NAT).