Action of lysozyme on bacterial cell wall Lysozyme is an abundant, cationic antimicrobial protein. Lysozyme effect on bacteria is that it degrades peptidoglycan in the bacterial cell wall leadingto rapid killing of Gram‐positive organisms.

Nucleophilic substitution reactions

Lysozyme is an enzyme in nasal mucus that fights infection by degrading bacterial cell walls. Lysozyme employs a mechanism that generates an unstable, positively charged carbon intermediate (called carbocation) within the molecular architecture of the bacterial cell wall.

Lysozymes elegantly stabilize this carbocation by providing a nearby negatively charged site from its own structure. This facilitates cleavage of the cell wall, yet does not involve bonding of lysozyme itself with the carbocation intermediate in the cell wall.