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. 1972 Mar;127(1):27–37. doi: 10.1042/bj1270027

Biosynthesis of the wall teichoic acid in Bacillus licheniformis

I C Hancock 1, J Baddiley 1
PMCID: PMC1178556  PMID: 5073747

Abstract

1. The biosynthesis of the wall teichoic acid, poly(glycerol phosphate glucose), has been studied with a particulate membrane preparation from Bacillus licheniformis A.T.C.C. 9945. The precursor CDP-glycerol supplies glycerol phosphate residues, whereas UDP-glucose supplies only glucose to the repeating structure of the polymer. 2. Synthesis proceeds through polyprenol phosphate derivatives, and chemical studies and pulse-labelling techniques show that the first intermediate is the phosphodiester, glucose polyprenol monophosphate. CDP-glycerol donates a glycerol phosphate residue to this to give a second intermediate, (glycerol phosphate glucose phosphate) polyprenol. 3. The glucose residue in the lipid intermediates has the β configuration, and chain extension in the synthesis of polymer occurs by transglycosylation with inversion of anomeric configuration at two stages.

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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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