title: Biosynthesis of pseudomurein: isolation of putative precursors from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum.
abstract: In aqueous trichloroacetic acid extracts of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum the following compounds, which are supposed to be precursors in the biosynthesis of the glycan strand of the pseudomurein, were isolated and identified: (i) a disaccharide (compound II) composed of uridine 5'-diphosphate, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid with N-acetylglucosamine at the reducing end, (ii) uridine 5'-diphospho-N-acetylglucosamine, and (iii) uridine 5'-diphospho-N-acetylgalactosamine. However, the corresponding monomeric derivative of N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid could not be detected. It is assumed that N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid may be formed from N-acetylgalactosamine by epimerisation and oxidation at the disaccharide level. These findings indicate that the biosynthetic pathways of murein and pseudomurein are quite different.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung für Angewandte Mikrobiologie, Universität Ulm, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: König
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kandler
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hammes
mesh_terms: D000117:Acetylglucosamine / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019605:Euryarchaeota / Q000378:metabolism*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014530:Uridine Diphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D014574:Uronic Acids / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004187:Disaccharides; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D014574:Uronic Acids; D014530:Uridine Diphosphate; C041665:N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid; D000117:Acetylglucosamine