Penicillin-Binding Protein 2 Is Essential for the Integrity of Growing Cells ofEscherichia coli ponBStrains

Analysis of Escherichia coli pbpA(Ts) or rodA(Ts) strains defective for penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 1A or PBP 1B indicated that the activity of PBP 2 is essential to prevent cell lysis in PBP 1B(-) strains and suggested that PBP 2 is active or activatable in rodA(Ts) mutants under restrictive conditions.