Gram Positive And Gram Negative Bacteria Essay - 822 words

Gram Positive and Gram Negative Bacteria It is a well-known fact that bacterial cells, like plant cells, are surrounded by a cell wall.
However, few people know that their cell walls are quite different. Bacterial cell walls are made up of polysaccharide chains linked to
amino acids. At the same time, plant cell walls are made up of cellulose, which contains no amino acids. In the same way, bacterial
cell walls themselves differ from one another. Scientists distinguish two types of bacteria cells, gram-negative and gram-positive,
which are somewhat different due to some of their characteristics.

There are two major types of walls: gram positive and gram negative. The cell wall of gram positive bacteria is composed of
numerous polymer layers of peptidoglycan connected by amino acid bridges. The peptidoglycan polymer is made of some variable
sequence of N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetyl-muraminic acid. It is quite easier to just remember the following abbreviation NAG
and NAMA. Each peptidoglycan layer is linked to the other by a bridge made of amino acids and amino acid derivatives. However,
the particular amino acids may alternate among different species. The connected peptidoglycan molecules organize a network which
covers the cell like a grid. Besides, 90% of the gram positive cell wall is comprised by peptidoglycan.

On the contrary to the gram positive bacteria, the cell wall of gram negative bacteria is much thinner, consisting of only 20%
peptidoglycan. Gram negative bacteria also have two unique sections which surround the outer plasma membrane. They are the
periplasmic space and the lipopolysaccharide layer. The periplasmic space separates the outer plasma membrane from the
peptidoglycan layer. It holds proteins destroying potentially dangerous foreign matter present in this space. The lipopolysaccharide
layer can be seen next to the exterior peptidoglycan layer.

It is a phospholipid bilayer construction which is similar to that in the cell membrane and is attached to the peptidoglycan by
lipoproteins. The lipid portion of the LPS contains a toxic substance, called Lipid A. The latter is responsible for most of the
pathogenic affects associated with harmful gram negative bacteria. Polysaccharides extending out from the bilayer also contibute to
the toxicity of the LPS. The LPS, lipoproteins, and the associated polysaccharides form what is called the outer membrane. By the
way, it is important to keep in mind that the cell wall is not a regulatory mechanism like the cell membrane.

It is certainly a porous structure. Yet it is not selectively pervious and will obviously let anything pass that can fit through its gaps.
Unlike gram negative, gram positive bacteria have a violet color in gram stai
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Essay Tags: gram negative, gram, cell, bacteria, amino acids This is an Essay sample / Research paper, you can use it for your research of: Gram
Positive And Gram Negative Bacteria