New insights into lipopolysaccharide assembly and export.

Abstract

Lipopolysaccharide is an important immunomodulatory and structural component found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The biosynthesis of this glycoconjugate proceeds by a highly conserved pathway and, as such, is an attractive target for antibiotic action. We highlight here recent work focused on understanding this pathway with an emphasis on new insights related to chain length control and transport across the inner and outer cell membranes.