细菌细胞壁的主要骨架成分是肽聚糖，肽聚糖的结构是微生物学研究中一个非常基础的问题，然而其在纳米尺度上的空间结构形貌一直并不清晰。原子力显微镜技术的引入，在肽聚糖超分子空间结构形貌研究方面获得了巨大突破，然而该领域目前进展很少，仍存在大量的空白，迄今仍没有关于对某一类细菌肽聚糖空间结构形貌的深入研究。本文拟聚焦于典型的革兰氏阳性细菌——芽孢杆菌，在一个属的范围内对肽聚糖空间结构形貌开展进一步的深入研究。申请者将在已有的工作基础上，选择本实验室保存的来自陆地、海洋、极地等不同环境的、具有不同生理特性的芽孢杆菌菌株，对其细胞壁肽聚糖在纳米尺度上超微空间结构形貌的多样性，在生长过程中肽聚糖的空间形貌的变化，以及肽聚糖的空间形貌随生长条件的变化而如何改变等一系列问题。研究结果将有助于阐明细菌细胞壁肽聚糖超微结构在属的范围内多样性，对我们深入理解细菌细胞壁肽聚糖的超微结构，具有较为重要的意义。

Peptidoglycan is the main component of bacterial cell wall. The structure of peptidoglyan is fundamental in microbiological research. However, the supramolecular architechture of peptidoglycan at nanoscale remains unclear. Atomic force microscopy has brought great breakthrough in researching the architechture of peptidoglycan. But the works in this area are quite limited, especially the detailed work on a certain type of bacteria is still lacking. Our project will focus on the typical Gram positive bacteria, Bacillus, and we will carry out detailed work about the architechture of peptidoglycan within this genus. Based on out previous work, we will select Bacillus strains from diverse environments such as land, sea, and polar area. These strains have different characteristics in there physiological properties. With these bacterial samples, we will carry out works about the diversity of the architechture of peptidoglycan within the genus of Bacillus. And we will work on the changes of architechture of peptidoglycan during growth. Moreover, we will work on the changes of architechture of peptidoglycan at different growth condition. This work will be meaningful in the research area of microbiology, and will help us to better understand the diversity of the architechture of bacterial peptidoglycan.