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. 1972 Dec;130(3):681–690. doi: 10.1042/bj1300681

A polymer of N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate in the wall of Staphylococcus lactis 2102

A R Archibald 1, G H Stafford 1
PMCID: PMC1174506  PMID: 4352714

Abstract

1. Walls of Staphylococcus lactis 2102 contain about 40% of a phosphorylated polysaccharide, which was isolated by extraction with cold trichloroacetic acid, with dilute NaOH, and also by digestion with a Flavobacterium peptidase. 2. The purified polymer contained equimolar proportions of N-acetylglucosamine and phosphate as its sole constituents and was readily hydrolysed under gentle acidic conditions to N-acetylglucosamine 6-phosphate. 3. Studies on the intact polymer showed that it is linear and that adjacent acetamido sugar units are joined by phosphodiester bonds between their 1- and 6-positions, the glycosidic linkages having the α-configuration. This polymer is thus the simplest of the known microbial wall polymers possessing sugar 1-phosphate linkages. 4. Alkali degradation of the extracted polymer proceeds predominantly in a stepwise manner from the reducing end, but evidence was obtained for the direct hydrolysis of some of the inter-unit phosphodiester groups.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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