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. 1974 Nov;120(2):837–843. doi: 10.1128/jb.120.2.837-843.1974

Regulation of Bacterial Cell Walls: Turnover of Cell Wall in Staphylococcus aureus

W Wong 1, F E Young 1, A N Chatterjee 1
PMCID: PMC245846  PMID: 4455686

Abstract

The cell wall of Staphylococcus aureus was shown to undergo turnover during exponential growth. The rate of turnover, about 15% per generation, was identical for both cell wall polymers, peptidoglycan and teichoic acid. Both the old and newly synthesized wall material appeared to undergo turnover at similar rates. The rate of turnover followed first-order kinetics until more than 90% of the original wall was lost. Cell wall turnover was completely blocked under conditions of unbalanced synthesis known to inhibit cellular autolysis, e.g., addition of chloramphenicol. Cell wall turnover was shown to occur in a number of different strains of S. aureus and appears to be widely distributed in this species.

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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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