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What holds the Gram-positive cell wall onto the plasma membrane beneath it?
APorins spanning an outer membrane
BS-layer proteins on the wall surface
CLipopolysaccharide anchored in the outer wall
DLipoteichoic acid linked to membrane lipids
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. Lipoteichoic acid linked to membrane lipids
1. Teichoic acids fill most of the Gram-positive wall that peptidoglycan does not.
2. When a teichoic acid is covalently linked to a lipid of the plasma membrane, it becomes a lipoteichoic acid.
3. Lipoteichoic acids anchor the cell wall to the cell membrane, which is the function asked for.
4. Porins sit in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, a structure Gram-positive cells lack.
5. S-layer proteins occur on the outside of walls in both archaea and bacteria, so they anchor nothing inward.
6. Lipopolysaccharide belongs to the Gram-negative outer envelope, so it is the wrong group entirely.
_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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