Chapter 8, Problem 32CQ

Summary Introduction

To determine: The reason why the cell wall of bacteria is porous rather than being solid.

Concept introduction:

The bacterial cells are made up of a cell wall and a cell membrane. The peptidoglycan can serve as a protective outer covering of the plasma membrane of most of the bacteria. They are made up of disaccharides and amino-acids. Based upon the structure and chemical composition of the cell wall, the bacteria are classified into- gram-positive bacteria and gram-negative bacteria. The cell wall of gram-positive bacteria possess thick peptidoglycan layer, whereas the gram-negative bacteria possess thin peptidoglycan layer.