Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most serious health threats. Cell-wall remodeling processes are tightly regulated to warrant bacterial survival and in some cases are directly linked to antibiotic resistance. Remodeling produces cell-wall fragments that are recycled but can also act as messengers for bacterial communication, as effector molecules in immune response and as signaling molecules triggering antibiotic resistance. This review is intended to provide state-of-the-art information about the molecular mechanisms governing this process and gather structural information of the different macromolecular machineries involved in peptidoglycan recycling in Gram-negative bacteria. The growing body of literature on the 3D structures of the corresponding macromolecules reveals an extraordinary complexity. Considering the increasing incidence and widespread emergence of Gram-negative multidrug-resistant pathogens in clinics, structural information on the main actors of the recycling process paves the way for designing novel antibiotics disrupting cellular communication in the recycling-resistance pathway.

抗菌素耐药性是最严重的健康威胁之一。细胞壁重塑过程受到严格控制，以保证细菌存活，在某些情况下与抗生素耐药性直接相关。重塑产生的细胞壁碎片可以回收利用，但也可以充当细菌交流的信使，在免疫应答中作为效应分子，在触发抗生素抗性时也可以作为信号分子。这篇综述旨在提供有关控制该过程的分子机制的最新信息，并收集与革兰氏阴性细菌中肽聚糖回收有关的不同大分子机械的结构信息。有关相应大分子3D结构的文献越来越多，显示出异常的复杂性。