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27 July, 19:04

Which polysaccharide has the main function of being a structural component of bacterial cell walls?

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  1. 27 July, 19:30
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    The correct answer is peptidoglycan

    Explanation:

    Peptidoglycan is the polysaccharide that has the main function in making the structural component of the bacterial cell wall. Gram-positive bacteria have a cell wall made up of purely peptidoglycan layer but in gram-negative bacteria, a thick outer covering of lipopolysaccharide is also present.

    Peptidoglycan is made up of NAG (N-acetyl glucosamine) and NAM (N-acetyl muramic acid) unit which are joined by β 1-4 glycosidic linkage. Lysozyme is the enzyme which breaks this linkage and destroys the bacterial cell wall.

    Due to outer thick peptidoglycan layer, gram-positive bacteria retain crystal violet stain and appear blue in color after gram's staining while gram-negative bacteria do not have outer thick peptidoglycan layer, therefore, it gets destain and get counterstain by safranin and appears pink.
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