Sphere-rod morphogenesis in Arthrobacter crystallopoietes. II. Peptides of the cell wall peptidoglycan.
Cell walls of Arthrobacter crystallopoietes grown as spheres and as rods were solubilized by treatment with the B enzyme from Chalaropsis, an N-acetylmuramidase. The neutral glycopeptides were then isolated by chromatography on ECTEOLA cellulose. The glycopeptides, consisting of disaccharide-peptide units interlinked by peptide cross-bridges, were fractionated by gel filtration on Sephadex columns into oligomers of various sizes. The size distribution ranged from monomers with no cross-bridges to polymers with a high degree of polymerization, but did not differ significantly between cell walls from cells grown as spheres or rods. Some small differences in the distribution of C- and N-terminal amino acids were found. Analyses revealed that all the peptide bridges in the glycopeptide fractions from rod cell walls were formed by one l-alanine residue. In sphere cell walls, l-alanine was also found, but, in addition, higher oligomers of the glycopeptide contained glycine in their cross-bridges. These results were confirmed by determinations of C- and N-terminal amino acids released after lysostaphin and AL-1 enzyme digestions and by Edman degradations. Models representing the structures of the sphere and rod cell walls are presented. These structures indicate that the sphere cell wall is probably a more loosely knit macromolecule than is the rod cell wall.
D000409:Alanine / Q000032:analysis; D001173:Arthrobacter / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000032:analysis* / Q000187:drug effects; D002845:Chromatography; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D005971:Glutamates / Q000032:analysis; D005998:Glycine / Q000032:analysis; D008239:Lysine / Q000032:analysis; D009113:Muramidase / Q000494:pharmacology; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis*; D010461:Peptones / Q000378:metabolism; D013386:Succinates / Q000378:metabolism
D005971:Glutamates; D010455:Peptides; D010461:Peptones; D013386:Succinates; D009113:Muramidase; D008239:Lysine; D000409:Alanine; D005998:Glycine