Interfakultäres Institut für Mikrobiologie und Infektionsmedizin

List of Publications:

current publications can be found here:
ResearchGate
ORCID

Selected publications

Li C, Urem M, Kotsogianni I, Lau J, Du C, Elsayed SS, Martin NI, McNae IW, Voskamp P, Mayer C, Rigali S, Pannu N, Abrahams JP, van Wezel GP (2025) The novel GlcNAc 6-phosphate dehydratase NagS governs a metabolic checkpoint that controls nutrient signaling in Streptomyces. PLOS Biology 23(11): e3003514 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003514

Alford JT, Borisova-Mayer M, Mayer C, Forchhammer K (2025) Diverse metabolic control of phospho-glucomutases by bisphosphorylated sugars in heterotrophic bacteria. Microb Physiol 35(1): 50–64  DOI: 10.1159/000547435

Krusche J, Beck C, Lehmann E, Gerlach D, Daiber E, Mayer C, Müller J, Onallah H, Würstle S, Wolz C, Peschel A (2025) Characterization and host range prediction of Staphylococcus aureus phages through receptor-binding protein analysis. Cell Reports, Volume 44, Issue 3, 2025, 115369, ISSN 2211-1247  DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115369

Pakkir Shah AK, Walter A, Ottosson F et al. (2025) The hitchhiker’s guide to statistical analysis of feature-based molecular networks from non-targeted metabolomics data. Nat Protoc 20, 92–162 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-024-01046-3

Beck C, Krusche J, Notaro A, Walter A, Kränkel L, Vollert A, Stemmler R, Wittmann J, Schaller M, Slavetinsky C, Mayer C, De Castro C, Peschel A (2024) Wall teichoic acid substitution with glucose governs phage susceptibility of Staphylococcus epidermidis. mBio 15:e01990-23. DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01990-23

Bianchi M, Winterhalter M, Harbig TA, Hörömpöli D, Ghai, I, Nieselt K, Brötz-Oesterhelt H, Mayer C*, Marina Borisova-Mayer B* (2024) Fosfomycin Uptake in Escherichia coli Is Mediated by the Outer-Membrane Porins OmpF, OmpC, and LamB. ACS Infect Diseases DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00367

Reuter J, Otten C, Jacquier N, Lee J, Mengin-Lecreulx D, Löckener I, Kluj R, Mayer C, Corona F, Dannenberg J, Aeby S, Bühl H, Greub G, Vollmer W, Ouellette SP, Schneider T, Henrichfreise B (2023) An NlpC/P60 protein catalyzes a key step in peptidoglycan recycling at the intersection of energy recovery, cell division and immune evasion in the intracellular pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis. PLOS Pathogens 19(2): e1011047. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1011047

Borisova M., Balbuchta K., Lovering A., Titz A., Mayer C (2021) , NamZ1 and NamZ2 from the Oral Pathogen Tannerella forsythia Are Peptidoglycan Processing Exo-β-N-Acetylmuramidases with Distinct Substrate Specificities, ASM Journals, Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 204, No. 3, doi: https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00597-21

Hottmann I, Borisova M, Schäffer C, Mayer C (2021): Peptidoglycan Salvage Enables the Periodontal Pathogen Tannerella forsythia to Survive within the Oral Microbial Community. Microb Physiol 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00597-21

Walter A, Friz S, Mayer C (2021) Chitin, Chitin Oligosaccharide, and Chitin Disaccharide Metabolism of Escherichia coli Revisited: Reassignment of the Roles of ChiA, ChbR, ChbF, and ChbG. Microb Physiol, doi.org/10.1159/000515178https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00597-21

Müller M, Calvert C, Hottmann I, Kluj RM, Teufel T, Balbuchta K, Engelbrecht A, Selim KA, Xu Q, Borisova M, Titz A, Mayer C (2021) The exo-β- N -acetylmuramidase NamZ from Bacillus subtilis is the founding member of a family of exo-lytic peptidoglycan hexosaminidases. J Biol Chem 296: 100519; doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100519. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100519

Mayer VMT, Tomek MB, Figl R, Borisova M, Hottmann I, Blaukopf M, Altmann F, Mayer C*, Schäffer C*. (2020) Utilization of different MurNAc sources by the oral pathogen Tannerella forsythia and role of the inner membrane transporter AmpG. BMC Microbiol. 20(1):352. doi: 10.1186/s12866-020-02006-z.

Walter A, Unsleber S, Rismondo J, Jorge AM, Peschel A, Gründling A, Mayer C (2020) Phosphoglycerol-type wall and lipoteichoic acids are enantiomeric polymers differentiated by the stereospecific glycerophosphodiesterase GlpQ. J Biol Chem 295(12):4024-4034. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.012566. Erratum in: J Biol Chem. 2020 Jun 26;295(26):8873.

Mayer VMT, Hottmann I, Figl R, Altmann F, Mayer C*, Schäffer C* (2019) Peptidoglycan-type analysis of the N-acetylmuramic acid auxotrophic oral pathogen Tannerella forsythia and reclassification of the peptidoglycan-type of Porphyromonas gingivalis. BMC Microbiol. 19(1). doi: 10.1186/s12866-019-1575-7. *shared senior authorships

Dörr T, Moynihan PJ, Mayer C (2019) Editorial: Bacterial Cell Wall Structure and Dynamics. Front Microbiol 10: 2051.doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02051

Mayer C (2019) Peptidoglycan Recycling, a Promising Target for Antibiotic Adjuvants in Antipseudomonal Therapy. J Infect Dis 220(11): 1713-1715. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiz378

Mayer C*, Kluj RM, Mühleck M, Walter A, Unsleber S, Hottmann I, Borisova M (2019) Bacteria's different ways to recycle their own cell wall. Int J Med Microbiol 309(7):151326. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2019.06.006. * senior authorship

Walter A, Mayer C (2019) Chapter 6: Peptidoglycan structure, biosynthesis, and dynamics during bacterial growth. In: Extracellular sugar-based biopolymers matrices, Ephraim Cohen & Hans Merzendorfer (eds), pp:237-299. Springer Nature, Switzerland. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12919-4_6.

Kluj RM, Ebner P, Adamek M, Ziemert N, Mayer C, Borisova M (2018) Recovery of the peptidoglycan turnover product released by the autolysin Atl in Staphylococcus aureus involves the phosphotransferase system transporter MurP and the novel 6-phospho-N-acetylmuramidase MupG. Front Microbiol 9:2725. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02725.

Jorge AM, Schneider J, Unsleber S, Xia G, Mayer C, Peschel A (2018) Staphylococcus aureus counters phosphate limitation by scavenging wall teichoic acids from other staphylococci via the teichoicase GlpQ. J Biol Chem 293(38):14916-14924. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA118.004584.

Hottmann I, Mayer VMT, Tomek MB, Friedrich V, Calvert MB, Titz A, Schäffer C, Mayer C (2018) N-Acetylmuramic Acid (MurNAc) Auxotrophy of the Oral Pathogen Tannerella forsythia: Characterization of a MurNAc kinase and analysis of its role in cell wall metabolism. Front Microbiol 9:19. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00019.

Calvert MB, Mayer C, Titz A (2017) An efficient synthesis of 1,6-anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid from N-acetylglucosamine. Beilstein J Org Chem 13:2631-2636. doi: 10.3762/bjoc.13.261.

Unsleber S, Borisova M, Mayer C (2017) Enzymatic synthesis and semi-preparative isolation of N-acetylmuramic acid 6-phosphate. Carbohydr Res 2017 445:98-103. doi: 10.1016/j.carres.2017.04.005.

Borisova, M, Mayer C (2017) Analysis of N-acetylmuramic acid-6-phosphate (MurNAc-6P) acumulation by HPLC-MS. Bio Protoc 7(15):e2420. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2420.

Borisova M, Gisin J, Mayer C (2017) The N-Acetylmuramic Acid 6-Phosphate Phosphatase MupP Completes the Pseudomonas Peptidoglycan Recycling Pathway Leading to Intrinsic Fosfomycin Resistance. mBio. 8. pii: e00092-17. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00092-17.

Morales AD, Liu Y, Hartman AM, Borisova M, de Sousa Borges A, de Kok N, Beilharz K, Veening JW, Mayer C, Hirsch AK, Scheffers DJ. (2017) Pentapeptide-rich peptidoglycan at the Bacillus subtilis cell-division site. Mol Microbiol. 104:319-333. doi: 10.1111/mmi.13629.

Schüller A, Matzner D, Lünse C, Wittmann V, Schumacher C, Unsleber S, Brötz-Oesterhelt H, Mayer C, Bierbaum G. Mayer G (2016) Activation of the glmS ribozyme confers bacterial growth inhibition. Chembiochem. doi: 10.1002/cbic.201600491. [Epub ahead of print]

Borisova M, Gaupp R, Duckworth A, Schneider A, Dalügge D, Mühleck M, Deubel D, Unsleber S, Yu W, Muth G, Bischoff M, Götz F, Mayer C (2016) Peptidoglycan recycling in Gram-positive bacteria is crucial to survival in stationary phase. mBio doi: 10.1128/mBio.00923-16. mbio.asm.org/content/7/5/e00923-16

Jorge AM, Schneider J, Unsleber S, Göhring N, Mayer C, Peschel A (2016) Utilization of glycerophosphodiesters by Staphylococcus aureus. Mol. Microbiol. doi: 10.1111/mmi.13552. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mmi.13552/abstract

Ruscitto A, Hottmann I, Stafford GP, Schäffer C, *Mayer C, *Sharma A (2016) Identification of a novel N-acetylmuramic acid transporter in Tannerella forsythia. J. Bacteriol. 198:3119-3125, *share corresponding authorship, jb.asm.org/content/198/22/3119.long

Studer P, Borisova M, Schneider A, Ayala JA, Mayer C, Schuppler M, Loessner MJ, Briers Y (2016) The Absence of a Mature Cell Wall Sacculus in Stable Listeria monocytogenes L-Form Cells Is Independent of Peptidoglycan Synthesis. PLoS One 11(5):e0154925. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154925, journals.plos.org/plosone/article

Kästle B, Geiger T, Gratani FL, Reisinger R, Goerke C, Borisova M, Mayer C, Wolz C (2015) rRNA regulation during growth and under stringent conditions in Staphylococcus aureus. Environ. Microbiol. 17:4394-4405. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.12867, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.12867/abstract

Jeske O, Schüler M, Schumann P, Schneider A, Boedeker C, Jogler M, Bollschweiler D, Rohde M, Mayer C, Engelhardt H, Spring S and Jogler C (2015) Planctomycetes do possess peptidoglycan. Nat. Communications 6, 7116, doi: 10.1038/ncomms8116, www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8116

#Renner-Schneck M, #Hinderberger I, Gisin J, Exner T, *Mayer C, *Stehle T (2015) Crystal structure of the N-acetylmuramic acid α-1-phosphate (MurNAc-α1P) uridylyltransferase MurU, a minimal sugar-nucleotidyltransferase and potential drug target enzyme in Gram-negative pathogens. J. Biol. Chem. 290, 10804-13, #contributed equally, *share corresponding authorship, www.jbc.org/content/early/2015/03/12/jbc.M114.620989

Borisova M, Gisin J, Mayer C (2014) Blocking peptidoglycan recycling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa attenuates intrinsic resistance to fosfomycin. Microb. Drug. Res. 20, 231-237, online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/mdr.2014.0036

Gisin J, Schneider A, Nägele B, Borisova M, Mayer C (2013) A cell wall recycling shortcut that bypasses peptidoglycan de novo biosynthesis. Nature Chem. Biol. 9, 491-493, www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/v9/n8/full/nchembio.1289.html

Reith J, Mayer C (2011) Peptidoglycan turnover and recycling in Gram-positive bacteria. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 92, 1-11, link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00253-011-3486-x

Reith J, Mayer C (2011) Characterization of a glucosamine/glucosaminide N-acetyltransferase of Clostridium acetobutylicum. J. Bacteriol., 193, 5393-99, jb.asm.org/content/193/19/5393.full

Reith J, Berking A, Mayer C (2011) Characterization of an N-acetylmuramic acid/N-acetylglucosamine kinase of Clostridium acetobutylicum. J. Bacteriol., 193, 5386-92, jb.asm.org/content/193/19/5386.full

Litzinger S, Fischer S, Polzer P, Diederichs K, Welte W, Mayer C (2010) Structural and kinetic analysis of Bacillus subtilis beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase reveals a unique Asp-His dyad mechanism. J. Biol. Chem., 285, 35675-84, www.jbc.org/content/285/46/35675..

Litzinger S, Duckworth A, Nitzsche K, Risinger C, Wittmann V, Mayer C (2010) Muropeptide rescue in Bacillus subtilis involves sequential hydrolysis by β-N-acetylglucosaminidase and N-acetyl-l-alanine amidase. J. Bacteriol., 192, 3132-3143, jb.asm.org/content/192/12/3132.abstract

Litzinger S, Mayer C (2010) Chapter 1: The murein sacculus. In H. König, H. Claus, A. Varma (eds.), Prokaryotic cell wall compounds – structure and biochemistry, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 3-54, www.springer.com/us/book/9783642050619

Hadi T, Dahl U, Mayer C, Tanner M (2008) Mechanistic studies on N-acetyl-muramic acid 6-phosphate hydrolase (MurQ): An etherase involved in peptidoglycan recycling. Biochemistry, 47, 11547-11558.

Jaeger T, Mayer C (2008) The transcriptional factors MurR and catabolite activator protein regulate N-acetylmuramic acid metabolism in Escherichia coli.
J. Bacteriol., 190, 6598-6608.

Jaeger T, Mayer C (2008) N-acetylmuramic acid 6-phosphate lyases (MurNAc etherases). Cell. Mol. Life Sci., 65, 928-939.

Uehara T, Suefuji K, Jaeger T, Mayer C, Park JT (2006) MurQ etherase is required by Escherichia coli in order to metabolize anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid obtained either from the environment or from its own cell wall. J. Bacteriol., 188, 1660-1662.

Jaeger T, Arsic M, Mayer C (2005) Scission of the lactyl ether bond of N-acetyl muramic acid by Escherichia coli "etherase". J. Biol. Chem., 280, 30100-30106.

Dahl U, Jaeger T, Nguyen BT, Sattler JM, Mayer C (2004) Identification of a phosphotransferase system of Escherichia coli required for growth on N-acetylmuramic acid. J. Bacteriol., 186, 2385-2392.