Number of murein molecules/cell (conditions of growth unknown)

Value 7e+5 Copies/cell
Organism Bacteria Escherichia coli
Reference James T Park, The murein sacculus, chapter 6 in Neidhardt et al Physiology of the Bacterial Cell, second edition 1996
Comments Concern about preserving all cross-links at all times is probably overdone. It seems likely to JT Park that the cell can manage with less than a normal number of cross-links in its sacculus. There are about 3.5×10^6 muropeptides in a sacculus (Wientjes et al 1991 PMID 1938964) and only about 700,000 cross-links so that considerably less than half of the muropeptides are involved in cross-links. Certainly the cell manages very well without its sacculus being completely cross-linked.
Entered by Ron Milo, Paul Jorgensen, Mike Springer
ID 100069