Biology and Pathogenicity of Microbial Spheroplasts and L-Forms

BACTERIA are encased in rigid cell walls that confer upon the organisms their characteristic shapes. In addition to the obvious role of these structures in protecting the bacteria from environmental stresses, they are important in cell division, in regulating the flow of certain molecules in and out of the organisms, and in determining the pathogenicity of the bacteria.Defective cell walls with consequent altered bacterial morphology can result from mutation leading to genetically defective synthesis, or from the effect of various agents, including certain enzymes and antibiotics, leading to phenotypic alterations in the bacterial cell wall. Such aberrant bacterial forms . . .