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What lies immediately outside the thin peptidoglycan wall of a Gram-negative bacterium?
AA thick sheath of teichoic acids
BA capsule made of pure protein
CAn envelope of lipopolysaccharides
DA second wall of pseudopeptidoglycan
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. An envelope of lipopolysaccharides
1. A Gram-negative wall is only a few layers of peptidoglycan, about 10 percent of the total wall.
2. Surrounding it is an outer envelope containing lipopolysaccharides and lipoproteins.
3. That envelope is sometimes called a second lipid bilayer, although its chemistry differs from a plasma membrane.
4. Teichoic acids are a Gram-positive feature, so they cannot be the outer layer here.
5. Pseudopeptidoglycan is one of the four archaean wall types, not a bacterial layer.
_Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 22 "Prokaryotes: Bacteria and Archaea", section 22.2 Structure of Prokaryotes_
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