title: Defect in biosynthesis of the linkage unit between peptidoglycan and teichoic acid in a bacteriophage-resistant mutant of Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: The biosynthesis of the linkage region between peptidoglycan and the ribitol teichoic acid was investigated in the bacteriophage-resistant, teichoic acid-less mutant Staphylococcus aureus 52A5 (Chatterjee et al., J. Bacteriol. 100:846--853, 1969). Membrane preparations of this strain were found to be incapable of forming the first intermediate of the biosynthetic pathway, namely, the transfer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) from UDP-GlcNAc to the acceptor molecule, which presumbably is undecaprenol phosphate (R. Bracha and L. Glaser, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 72:1091--1098, 1976). The addition of heat-inactivated membrane preparations of S. aureus 52A2 (which normally has ribitol teichoic acid) that had been preincubated with UDP-GlcNAc to membranes of strain 52A5 enabled the synthesis of teichoic acid. These data suggest that the mutational defect in the teichoic acid-less organism is in the synthesis of the first compound of the linkage unit, and this is apparently the reason for its absence in the cell walls.
mesh_terms: D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D005990:Glycerol / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000378:metabolism*; D012255:Ribitol / Q000378:metabolism; D013204:Staphylococcus Phages / Q000254:growth & development; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000378:metabolism*; D013403:Sugar Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010457:Peptidoglycan; D013403:Sugar Phosphates; D013682:Teichoic Acids; D012255:Ribitol; D005990:Glycerol