title: Appearance of gamma-D-glutamyl-(L) meso-diaminopimealate peptidoglycan hydrolase during sporulation in Bacillus sphaericus.
abstract: Particulate preparations from sporulating cells of Bacillus sphaericus 9602 contained an endopeptidase activity that hydrolyzed the gamma-d-glutamyl-(l)meso-diaminopimelic acid linkages found in the spore cortical peptidoglycan of this organism. Diaminopimelic acid did not occur in the vegetative cell wall peptidoglycan, and the gamma-d-glutamyl-l-lysine linkages found in this polymer were not hydrolyzed by the endopeptidase. The endopeptidase hydrolyzed (X)-l-alanyl-gamma-d-glutamyl-(l)meso-diaminopimelyl(l)-d-alanyl-d-alanine only after removal of the terminal d-alanine residue. The preparations contained an acyl-d-alanyl-d-alanine carboxypeptidase I activity which converted such pentapeptides into substrates for the endopeptidase and which was inhibited 50% by 4 x 10(-7) M benzylpenicillin. This activity also hydrolyzed the analogous pentapeptide substrates containing l-lysine. The preparations also contained an acyl-l-lysyl-d-alanine carboxypeptidase II activity that was not active on the meso-diaminopimelic acid-containing analogue. Neither this activity nor the endopeptidase was inhibited by 10(-3) M benzylpenicillin. The specificities of the carboxypeptidases were consistent with the exclusive presence of l-lysine C-termini in the vegetative peptidoglycan and of meso-diaminopimelyl-d-alanine C-termini in the spore cortical peptidoglycan of B. sphaericus 9602.
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000378:metabolism; D001345:Autoradiography; D001407:Bacillus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D002268:Carboxypeptidases / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D004590:Electrophoresis, Paper; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000378:metabolism; D010400:Penicillin G / Q000494:pharmacology; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000378:metabolism; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D007527:Isoenzymes; D009842:Oligopeptides; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D002268:Carboxypeptidases; D010450:Endopeptidases; D000409:Alanine; D010400:Penicillin G