Teichoic organism

Membrane teichoic acids have now been detected in a large number of bacteria, including almost all of the Gram-positive organisms examined. Nevertheless, the proportion present is sometimes small, and separation of the acids from other macromolecular cell-components, such as nucleic acids, peptides, and polysaccharides, is difficult. Consequently, few have been obtained in an amount and of a purity adequate for detailed chemical study. Even from the limited studies so far made, it is clear that structural details differ considerably from case to case, and it is convenient to classify these teichoic acids according to the organisms from which they have been isolated. 

This was the first membrane teichoic acid to be studied and, although the walls of this organism do not contain a teichoic acid, difficulties were experienced in the purification of the material isolated from extracts of... 

Poly(ribitol phosphate) synthetase has been found in particulate fractions from Staphylococcus aureus H, and Lactobacillus plantatrum.lt ll-m The bulk of the activity in Lactobacillus plantarum was in crude, cell-wall preparations, and the enzyme is apparently located in the membrane, although intimate association with the wall itself has been suggested. Unlike the natural teichoic acid, the enzymically synthesized ribitol phosphate polymer was readily extracted with phenol hydrolysis by acid and by alkali gave the expected products, and oxidation with periodate indicated a chain length of 5-9 units, a value which compares well with that of 8 units for the natural polymer in the walls of this organism. 

The incorporation of the D-alanine ester groups is, presumably, the last stage in the biosynthesis of teichoic acids. Several organisms possess enzymes which activate D-alanine, that is, which form a D-alanyl-adenosine 5-phosphate-enzyme complex but, so far, there has been no demonstration of incorporation, in cell-free systems, of D-alanine into teichoic acid or any... 

The cell wall of staphylococci is composed essentially of peptidoglycan and teichoic acids. As pointed out earlier (p. 150) substances of higher molecular weight can readily cross the wall of these organisms, a property that probably accounts for their greater sensitivity than Gram-negative bacteria... 

Extracts prepared from whole cells of all such organisms contained a glyceritol phosphate polymer, even when no such polymer was present in the walls. This finding is in accordance with a previous report by Mitchell and Moyle that the cell envelope and the small particle fraction from Staphylococcus aureus contain a glyceritol phosphate. This observation could explain why Lactobacillus arabinosus contains cytidine glyceritol pyrophosphate (and not the corresponding teichoic acid) in the cell wall. 

Solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was introduced by Newman and Tate (1980) to define the structural composition of soil organic phosphorus. The technique allows the identification of several inorganic phosphorus forms (phosphate, pyrophosphate, polyphosphate) and organic phosphorus forms, such as phosphate monoesters (e.g. inositol phosphates and sugar phosphates), phosphate diesters (e.g. nucleic acids, phospholipids, teichoic acids) and phosphonates. 

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