What materials are the bacteria cell walls composed of?
Cell walls of most bacteria fall into one of two main groups. Gram Positive – the bacterium have a very thick wall of peptidoglycan which in turn is made up of repeated units of a discaccharide and its associated polypetides. Gram Negative – the bacterium have only a small amount of peptidoglycan but also have an outer “membrane” made of an assortment of lipid molecules (e.g. lipopolysaccharide, lipoprotein, phospholipid, etc.). Certain chemicals and compounds are impermeable to the wall. In other instances, the cell will actively produce certain proteins to destroy compounds being used to breach the cell wall.
