Skip to main content
PMC home page
Biochemical Journal logoLink to Biochemical Journal
. 1965 Sep;96(3):700–709. doi: 10.1042/bj0960700

The isolation of structural components present in the cell wall of Bacillus licheniformis N.C.T.C. 6346

R C Hughes 1
PMCID: PMC1207206  PMID: 5862410

Abstract

1. Four of the known components of wall preparations of vegative cells of Bacillus licheniformis N.C.T.C. 6346 have been isolated free of each other after successive treatments of the walls with trichloroacetic acid and lysozyme: (a) a mucopeptide consisting of glucosamine, muramic acid, α∈-diaminopimelic acid, glutamic acid and alanine in the molar proportions 1·0:0·8:1·0:1·2:1·7; (b) an insoluble protein; (c) teichoic acid containing phosphorus and glucose in equimolar amounts; (d) teichuronic acid containing equimolar amounts of N-acetylgalactosamine and glucuronic acid, as found by Janczura, Perkins & Rogers (1961). 2. Evidence has been obtained for the presence in the soluble fraction obtained by lysozyme treatment of whole walls of a stable covalent complex of the teichoic acid and the mucopeptide components. 3. The molar ratio of phosphorus to glucose in the teichoic acid present in intact walls or the soluble fractions obtained by extraction of the walls with lysozyme or trichloroacetic acid is 1·0:0·25, in contrast with values of about unity obtained for the purified teichoic acid. 4. Intact walls have been shown to contain polyribitol phosphate chains bearing different amounts of glucose substituents. 5. Trichloroacetic acid extracts of walls also contain polyribitol phosphate compounds of different chain lengths. Dialysis of trichloroacetic acid extracts removes the short chains of polyribitol phosphate that have been found to carry only very low amounts of glucose side chains. By contrast, the longer chains present in the non-diffusible fraction contain phosphorus and glucose in almost equimolar amounts.

Full text

PDF
700

Selected References

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

  1. ARMSTRONG J. J., BADDILEY J., BUCHANAN J. G. Further studies on the teichoic acid from Bacillus subtilis walls. Biochem J. 1961 Aug;80:254–261. doi: 10.1042/bj0800254. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. ARMSTRONG J. J., BADDILEY J., BUCHANAN J. G. Structure of the ribitol teichoic acid from the walls of Bacillus subtilis. Biochem J. 1960 Sep;76:610–621. doi: 10.1042/bj0760610. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Allen R. J. The estimation of phosphorus. Biochem J. 1940 Jun;34(6):858–865. doi: 10.1042/bj0340858. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. BAAR S. Quantitative estimation of glucose by paper partition chromatography. Biochem J. 1954 Sep;58(1):175–177. doi: 10.1042/bj0580175. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. BREITENBACH J. W., DERKOSCH J., WESSELY F. Energetics of peptide formation. Nature. 1952 May 31;169(4309):922–922. doi: 10.1038/169922a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. CUMMINS C. S., HARRIS H. The chemical composition of the cell wall in some gram-positive bacteria and its possible value as a taxonomic character. J Gen Microbiol. 1956 Jul;14(3):583–600. doi: 10.1099/00221287-14-3-583. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Elson L. A., Morgan W. T. A colorimetric method for the determination of glucosamine and chondrosamine. Biochem J. 1933;27(6):1824–1828. doi: 10.1042/bj0271824. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. GHUYSEN J. M., STROMINGER J. L. STRUCTURE OF THE CELL WALL OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS, STRAIN COPENHAGEN. I. PREPARATION OF FRAGMENTS BY ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS. Biochemistry. 1963 Sep-Oct;2:1110–1119. doi: 10.1021/bi00905a035. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. HANES C. S., ISHERWOOD F. A. Separation of the phosphoric esters on the filter paper chromatogram. Nature. 1949 Dec 31;164(4183):1107-12, illust. doi: 10.1038/1641107a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. JANCZURA E., PERKINS H. R., ROGERS H. J. Teichuronic acid: a mucopolysaccharide present in wall preparations from vegetative cells of Bacillus subtilis. Biochem J. 1961 Jul;80:82–93. doi: 10.1042/bj0800082. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. MANDELSTAM J., ROGERS H. J. The incorporation of amino acids into the cell-wall mucopeptide of staphylococci and the effect of antibiotics on the process. Biochem J. 1959 Aug;72:654–662. doi: 10.1042/bj0720654. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Morgan W. T., Elson L. A. A colorimetric method for the determination of N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylchrondrosamine. Biochem J. 1934;28(3):988–995. doi: 10.1042/bj0280988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. PARK J. T., JOHNSON M. J. A submicrodetermination of glucose. J Biol Chem. 1949 Nov;181(1):149–151. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. PERKINS H. R., ROGERS H. J. The products of the partial acid hydrolysis of the mucopeptide from cell walls of Micrococcus lysodeikticus. Biochem J. 1959 Aug;72:647–654. doi: 10.1042/bj0720647. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. PERKINS H. R. The structure of a disaccharide liberated by lysozyme from the cell walls of Micrococcus lysodeikticus. Biochem J. 1960 Jan;74:182–186. doi: 10.1042/bj0740182. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Partridge S. M. Filter-paper partition chromatography of sugars: 1. General description and application to the qualitative analysis of sugars in apple juice, egg white and foetal blood of sheep. with a note by R. G. Westall. Biochem J. 1948;42(2):238–250. doi: 10.1042/bj0420238. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. SALTON M. R. J., HORNE R. W. Studies of the bacterial cell wall. II. Methods of preparation and some properties of cell walls. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1951 Jul;7(2):177–197. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(51)90017-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. SALTON M. R. Studies of the bacterial cell wall. IV. The composition of the cell walls of some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1953 Apr;10(4):512–523. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(53)90296-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. STROMINGER J. L., GHUYSEN J. M. ON THE LINKAGE BETWEEN TEICHOIC ACID AND THE GLYCOPEPTIDE IN THE CELL WALL OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1963 Aug 14;12:418–424. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(63)90117-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sharon N., Shif I., Zehavi U. The isolation of D-fucosamine (2-amino-2,6-dideoxy-D-galactose) from polysaccharides of Bacillus. Biochem J. 1964 Oct;93(1):210–214. doi: 10.1042/bj0930210. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. TREVELYAN W. E., PROCTER D. P., HARRISON J. S. Detection of sugars on paper chromatograms. Nature. 1950 Sep 9;166(4219):444–445. doi: 10.1038/166444b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. YOUNG F. E., SPIZIZEN J., CRAWFORD I. P. BIOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF COMPETENCE IN THE BACILLUS SUBTILIS TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM. I. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CELL WALLS. J Biol Chem. 1963 Sep;238:3119–3125. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Biochemical Journal are provided here courtesy of The Biochemical Society

RESOURCES