Characterization of the cell wall and cell wall proteins of Chromatium vinosum.

Highly purified cell walls of Chromatium vinosum were isolated by differential centrifugation, with or without Triton X-100 extraction. The isolated material had a protein composition similar to that of cell walls obtained by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Twenty-two proteins were reproducibly detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A 42-kilodalton protein was shown to account for 65% of the total cell wall protein. The majority of cell wall proteins were solubilized in sodium dodecyl sulfate at room temperature; however, they existed as high-molecular-weight complexes unless heated to 45 degrees C or above. The cell wall contained one heat-modifiable protein which migrated with an apparent molecular weight of 37,400 when solubilized at 70 degrees C or below, but which migrated with an apparent molecular weight of 52,500 if solubilized at 100 degrees C. The electrophoretic mobility of three proteins was modified by 2-mercaptoethanol. The majority of C. vinosum cell wall proteins had isoelectric points between pH 4.5 and 5.5, and the 42-kilodalton protein focused at pH 4.9. No proteins were detected which were analogous to the lipoprotein or peptidoglycan-associated proteins of the Enterobacteriaceae. Nearest-neighbor analysis with a reducible, cross-linking reagent indicated that three proteins, including the 42-kilodalton protein, associated with themselves. Most of the cell wall proteins were partially accessible to proteases in both intact cells and isolated cell walls. Protease treatment of the whole cell or isolated cell wall digested approximately an 11,000-molecular-weight portion of the 42-kilodalton protein.     

The cell wall of Fusarium oxysporum.

Sugar analysis of isolated cell walls from three formae speciales of Fusarium oxysporum showed that they contained not only glucose and (N-acetyl)-glucosamine, but also mannose, galactose, and uronic acids, presumably originating from cell wall glycoproteins. Cell wall glycoproteins accounted for 50-60% of the total mass of the wall. X-ray diffraction studies showed the presence of alpha-1, 3-glucan in the alkali-soluble cell wall fraction and of beta-1, 3-glucan and chitin in the alkali-insoluble fraction. Electron microscopy and lectin binding studies indicated that glycoproteins form an external layer covering an inner layer composed of chitin and glucan.     

WAKs; cell wall associated kinases.

Students of metazoan biology have traditionally viewed the extracellular matrix (ECM) as a substrate with which cells interact to participate in developmental pattern formation and define a specific location. In contrast, the plant cell wall has been viewed as a cage that limits and thus directs plant cell morphology, and perhaps for this reason many have shied away from calling the plant cell wall the ECM. The recent discovery of a variety of receptor molecules and their ligands on the surface of plant cells and the intimate role cell walls play in development should direct our thinking toward a more dynamic view of the plant cell wall. A recent example, is the discovery of wall associated kinases (WAKs), which may well signal between the ECM and the cell and are required for cell expansion.     

Unusual cell wall ultrastructure of Leptotrichia buccalis.

Leptotrichia buccalis was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Its cell wall structure in generally compatible with that of gram-negative bacteria. However, the scale-like membranous folds associated with the external surface of the outer cell membrane appear to be sufficiently unusual to serve as a useful morphological criterion in the identification of L. baccalis cells.     

D-Alanine-requiring cell wall mutant of Escherichia coli.

A mutant of Escherichia coli is described whose cells show a spherical or irregular morphology, associated with leakage of beta-galactosidase and other intracellular proteins. The expression of the morphologic abnormality is most marked when the mutant is grown in rich media and is suppressed by D-alamine, D-serine, D-glutamate, or glycine supplementation. D-Alanine is the most effective amino acid supplement, half maximally supressing this anomalous property at a concentration of 75 mug/ml, as measured by the reduction in beta-galactosidase released from the cells. The mutant is more sensitive to penicillin G, D-methionine, and D-valine and it is relatively resistant to lysozyme. These phenotypic abnormalities are likewise corrected by the above supplementations. The relative rates of peptidoglycan synthesis in mutant and parent, grown under restrictive conditions, were measured both in vivo and in vitro by rates of incorporation of L-[14-D]alanine and uridine-5'-diphosphate-N-acetyl-D-[1-15C-A1-glucosamine, respectively. There is not metabolic block in the biosynthesis of uridine-5'-diphosphate-N-acetyl-muramyl-pentapeptide as shown by enzymic analysis and the lack of accumulation of uridine-5'-diphosphate-N-acetylmuramyl-peptide precursors. These preliminary studies suggest that the mutant possesses a defect in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan although the exact lesion has not yet been established.     

Cell wall ultrastructure of flocculent and non-flocculent Schizosaccharomyces pombe strains. Effect of cell wall hydrolysing enzymes on flocculation and cell wall ultastructure

Scanning and transmission electron microscopic studies revealed the presence of slime-like, amorphous material on the surface of Schizosaccahromyces pombe RIVE 4-2-1 cells, independently, whether they were in flocculated or in non-flocculated state. Close contact of the adjacent cells via the merging outermost cell wall layers was found, however, only in the case of floc formation, which was induced by cultivating the cells in the presence of 6% (v/v) ethanol. Irreversible loss of the flocculation ability of the cells by treatment with proteinases suggests that proteinaceous cell surface molecules as lectins contribute to the cell-to-cell interaction during flocculation. Both proteinase K and pronase treatments removed a distinct outer layer of the cell wall, which indicated that the protein moieties of the phosphogalactomannan outer surface layer has a crucial role in the maintenance of cell wall integrity. In the case of lysing enzyme treatment the removal of the outermost layer was also observed as the first step of the cell wall digestion, while driselase treatment resulted in almost complete digestion of the cell wall.