Bacteria commonly live in dense polymicrobial communities and compete for scarce resources. Consequently, they employ a diverse array of mechanisms to harm, inhibit, and kill their competitors. The cell wall is essential for bacterial survival by providing mechanical strength to resist osmotic stress. Because peptidoglycan is the major component of the cell wall and its synthesis is a complex multistep pathway that requires the coordinate action of several enzymes, it provides a target for rival bacteria, which have developed a large arsenal of antibacterial molecules to attack the peptidoglycan of competitors. These molecules include antibiotics, bacteriocins, and contact-dependent effectors that are either secreted into the medium or directly translocated into a target cell. In this minireview, we summarize the diversity of these molecules and highlight distinct mechanisms to disrupt the peptidoglycan, giving special attention to molecules that are known or have the potential to be used during interbacterial competitions.

中文翻译：

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瞄准细菌的致命弱点：细菌战期间分解肽聚糖细胞壁的不同机制

细菌通常生活在密集的多种微生物群落中，并争夺稀缺资源。因此，他们采用多种机制来伤害、抑制和杀死竞争对手。细胞壁通过提供机械强度来抵抗渗透压，对于细菌的生存至关重要。由于肽聚糖是细胞壁的主要成分，其合成是一个复杂的多步骤途径，需要多种酶的协调作用，因此它为竞争对手细菌提供了靶标，这些细菌已经开发出大量抗菌分子来攻击竞争对手的肽聚糖。这些分子包括抗生素、细菌素和接触依赖性效应物，它们要么分泌到培养基中，要么直接转移到靶细胞中。在这篇小综述中，我们总结了这些分子的多样性，并强调了破坏肽聚糖的不同机制，特别关注已知或有可能在细菌间竞争中使用的分子。