Reversible inactivation of a peptidoglycan transpeptidase by a β-lactam antibiotic mediated by β-lactam-ring recyclization in the enzyme active site.

β-lactam antibiotics act as suicide substrates of transpeptidases responsible for the last cross-linking step of peptidoglycan synthesis in the bacterial cell wall. Nucleophilic attack of the β-lactam carbonyl by the catalytic residue (Ser or Cys) of transpeptidases results in the opening of the β-lactam ring and in the formation of a stable acyl-enzyme. The acylation reaction is considered as irreversible due to the strain of the β-lactam ring. In contradiction with this widely accepted but poorly demonstrated premise, we show here that the acylation of the L,D-transpeptidase Ldt