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. 1974 Oct;120(1):342–354. doi: 10.1128/jb.120.1.342-354.1974

Cell Wall Polymers of Bacillus sphaericus: Activities of Enzymes Involved in Peptidoglycan Precursor Synthesis During Sporulation

Paul E Linnett a,1, Donald J Tipper a
PMCID: PMC245769  PMID: 4417383

Abstract

In synchronously sporulating cells of Bacillus sphaericus 9602, the specific activities of those enzymes specifically required for the synthesis of the UDP-N-acetyl-muramyl-pentapeptide precursor of vegetative cell wall peptidoglycan decay by 50% after the end of exponential cell division, probably as a consequence of dilution by newly synthesized protein. The meso-diaminopimelate ligase is the only new activity whose synthesis is required for synthesis of the nucleotide-pentapeptide precursor of spore cortex peptidoglycan. The addition of d-Ala-d-Ala to the nucleotide tripeptide is catalyzed by an enzyme present in both vegetative and sporulating cells, which apparently does not discriminate between lysine- and diaminopimelate-containing acceptors. The activities of the l-Ala and d-Ala-d-Ala ligases and of the d-Ala-d-Ala synthetase increases in parallel with the appearance of the diaminopimelate ligase, indicating coordinate derepression and suggesting operon-like organization of the appropriate structural genes.

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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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