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. 1980 Apr;28(1):65–73. doi: 10.1128/iai.28.1.65-73.1980

Conservation of cell wall peptidoglycan by strains of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguis.

M Mychajlonka, T D McDowell, G D Shockman
PMCID: PMC550894  PMID: 6769821

Abstract

Turnover of the cell wall peptidoglycan fraction of six different strains of Streptococcus mutans and eight different strains of Streptococcus sanguis was examined. Cells were grown in the presence of [3H]lysine and [14C]leucine for at least eight generations and then chased in growth medium lacking the two labels. At intervals during the chase, samples of cultures were removed, and the amounts of the two labeled precursors remaining in the peptidoglycan and protein fractions were quantitated. Similar experiments were done in which the pulse-labeling technique was used. In addition, cells were labeled in the presence of tetracycline or penicillin, chased with growth medium containing no inhibitor, and assayed at intervals during the chase for the amount of [3H]lysine present in peptidoglycan fractions. Studies of cultures of S. mutans strains FA-1, OMZ-61, OMZ-176, 6715, GS-5, and Ingbritt and of S. sanguis strains 10558, M-5, Wicky, DL-101, DL-1, 71X26, and 71X48 maintained in the exponential phase of growth in a chemically defined medium failed to show evidence of loss of insoluble peptidoglycan via turnover. Similarly, for the strains of S. mutans, insoluble peptidoglycan assembled during 2 h of benzylpenicillin or tetracycline treatment was also conserved during recovery from growth inhibition.

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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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