Identification of Two Phosphate Starvation-induced Wall Teichoic Acid Hydrolases Provides First Insights into the Degradative Pathway of a Key Bacterial Cell Wall Component*

The cell wall of most Gram-positive bacteria contains equal amounts of peptidoglycan and the phosphate-rich glycopolymer wall teichoic acid (WTA). During phosphate-limited growth of the Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis 168, WTA is lost from the cell wall in a response mediated by the PhoPR two-component system, which regulates genes involved in phosphate conservation and acquisition. It has been thought that WTA provides a …