Bactoprenol
chemical compound
Bactoprenol also known as dolichol-11 and (isomerically vaguely) C55-isoprenyl alcohol (C55-OH) is a lipid first identified in certain species of lactobacilli. It is a hydrophobic alcohol that plays a key role in the growth of cell walls (peptidoglycan) in Gram-positive bacteria.
The double bonds all have the Z configuration except for the three ω-terminal ones, which are biosynthetically derived from (E,E)-farnesyl diphosphate.
Occurrence
Bactoprenol is a lipid synthesized from mevalonic acid and is the most abundant lipid found in certain species of lactobacilli. Bactoprenol is found in both mesosomal and plasma membranes. Mesosomal and plasma bactoprenol are synthesized independently from each other.
Function
Bactoprenol is thought to play a key role in the formation of cell walls in Gram-positive bacteria by cycling peptidoglycan monomers through the plasma membrane and inserting these monomers at points of growth in the bacterial cell wall.
Antibiotic significance
Because bactoprenol is so important for cell growth, numerous antibiotic compounds function by disrupting the bactoprenol-mediated transportation pathway. This strategy was first identified by studying the antibiotic mechanism of friulimicin B. Since then, other antibiotics that make use of a similar mechanism have been identified, including nisin and lantibiotics such as NAI-107.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 5, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q409695. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bactoprenol” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.