title: Identity of macromolecules present in the extracellular slime layer of Staphylococcus epidermidis.
abstract: The extracellular slime layer of Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 35983 contains: a) two non-anionic carbohydrate containing proteins degradable with papain of molecular masses 250 and 125 kDa; b) a polydisperse but homogeneously-charged acidic population with M(r) ranging from 120,000 to 35,000 (average M(r) (80,000) containing a polysaccharide covalently bound to a small peptide; c) a papain degradable macromolecule (molecular mass 60 kDa) bearing acidic carbohydrates covalently bound to protein; and c) two acidic polysaccharides strongly retained by the anion-exchange column; one polysaccharide is sulphated and has a molecular mass of 20 kDa; the other has a higher charge density and a molecular mass of 12.5 kDa. The results obtained clearly demonstrate the presence of discrete macromolecules in the extracellular material of slime-producing S epidermidis, the majority of which contain acidic carbohydrates, whose biological role remains to be elucidated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Greece.
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Karamanos
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Panagiotopoulou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Syrokou
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frangides
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hjerpe
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dimitracopoulos
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Anastassiou
mesh_terms: D005591:Chemical Fractionation; D004586:Electrophoresis; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure