Chemical composition of a preparation of the cell walls of Corynebacterium diphtheriae

The chemical characteristics of 6 batches of the preparation, obtained from the cell wall of C. diphtheriae grown in liquid and solid culture media, with respect to their content of nitrogen, hexoses, pentoses, total amino sugars, lipids and to the possible admixture of nucleic acids are presented. From the results of the chemical analysis of these batches their standardization according to the ratio of total amino sugars and pentoses to total nitrogen in C. diphtheriae cell-wall preparation is proposed.     

Crown-gall tumors possess tumor-specific antigenic sites on their cell walls

Rabbits were injected with cell walls obtained from crown-gall tumor tissue or the corresponding cell walls from normal potato tissue. The serum obtained from rabbits 53 days after they were injected with tumor cell walls contained immunoglobins that reacted with both tumor and normal cell walls as well as with the cells from the inciting strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. When this serum was repeatedly absorbed against normal cell walls and the cells of the inciting strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, only tumor-specific immunoglobins remained. These immunoglobins did not react with cell walls obtained from meristematic (nontumorous) potato tissue. Yet this same serum reacted with crown-gall tumor cell walls obtained from turnip and carrot discs.     

The cell walls of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. General composition

1. Cell walls of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were prepared and analysed. 2. Separate preparations were found to be reproducible, e.g. the phosphorus contents of all batches lay in the range 2.0-2.1%. 3. Ninhydrin-positive compounds in hydrolysates accounted for 43-46% of the cell wall and 79-87% of the nitrogen of the cell wall. Examination of the results for individual ninhydrin-positive compounds showed that 5-15% of the cell wall was murein and about 30% protein. 4. Trypsin treatment of crude cell-wall preparations preferentially liberated arginine, lysine and leucine, but it was not clear whether these arose from cell-wall or cytoplasmic proteins.     

Immunomodulating properties of the antigens of the cell walls of nontoxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae

The total protein fraction was obtained by extraction with nonionic detergent NP-40. The fraction composition and molecular parameters were studied with DDS-Na electrophoresis in polyacryl amide gel. Common properties of the Corynebacterium diphtheriae protein fraction 66 kD and an analogous fraction of the cell walls of staphylococci and the measles virus were shown with immunoblotting. Cell-mediated mechanisms of the immune response to contact with antigens of Corynebacterium diphtheriae cell walls were revealed.     

Chemical composition of Streptococcus mutans cell walls and their susceptibility to Flavobacterium L-11 enzyme

The susceptibility to a cell wall lytic L-11 enzyme from Flavobacterium sp. and the quantitative and/or qualitative composition of the cell walls of some strains of cariogenic Streptococcus mutans and a non-cariogenic strain of Streptococcus mitis were determined. The purified cell walls of S. mutans strains HS-1 (serotype a), BHT (b), NCTC10449 (c), C67-1 (c), C67-25 (c), OMZ 176 (d), MT703 (e), MT557 (f), OMZ65 (g), and AHT (g), and S. mitis CHT contained glutamic acid, alanine, and lysine as well as muramic acid and glucosamine as a peptidoglycan component. Besides these amino acids, significant amounts of threonine were detected in strains HS-1, OMZ65, and AHT cell walls, and considerable amounts of aspartic acid and/or threonine as well as several other amino acids in OMZ176, OMZ65, and CHT cell walls. Rhamnose was a common special component of the cell walls of S. mutans strains BHT, NCTC10449, MT703, B2 (e), MT557, and AHT, and S. mitis CHT. An additional sugar component, glucose, was detected in the cell walls of all of these strains except BHT, and galactose was found in BHT, AHT, and CHT cell walls. Galactosamine was present in S. mitis CHT cell walls. Varying amounts of phosphorus were detected in the cell walls of all the strains examined. The cell walls of all these streptococcal strains except MT703, 6715, and AHT were susceptible to the lytic action of the L-11 enzyme to various extents. No consistent relationship was observed between the amino acid and sugar composition of these cell walls and their susceptibility to the L-11 enzyme. The chemical composition of these cell walls is discussed in terms of the serological classification of S. mutans.     

Investigations on the antigenic structure of actinomycetales IX. Serological classification of the Nocardiae with the polysaccharide fractions of their cell walls

Summary Polysaccharide fractions were extracted with 7.5% sulphosalicylic acid from defatted cell walls of 43 strains of nocardiae. All the polysaccharides, except those ofN. turbata, revealed chromatographically glucosamine, galactose, glucose and arabinose. Rhamnose was only found in the fractions isolated from some strains.The complement-fixation test with the polysaccharide fractions and anti-cell-wall sera allowed to distinguish four serological groups and 21 types among the strains examined. A method and a pattern of the serological classification of nocardiae has been presented.This work was partly conducted under a Von Humboldt Associate-Professor Fellowship in the Hygiene-Institute, University of Bonn, in 1963.Part of this paper was read at the meeting of the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology during the International Botanical Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1964.     

细胞壁缺陷白喉棒状杆菌致病作用的观察及其毒力基因检测

目的比较白喉棒状杆菌亲代细菌型及其稳定L型动物致病性的差异,了解白喉棒状杆菌稳定L型变异的特点,探讨其变异的性质及其与细胞壁缺陷突变的关系。方法用氨苄青霉素在非高渗培养基内人工诱导产毒性白喉棒状杆菌为稳定L型。采用白喉棒状杆菌稳定L型纯培养物及其代谢产物皮内感染家兔,观察局部感染部位皮肤或全身的病理改变。采用微量法提取白喉棒状杆菌稳定L型的染色体DNA,用Tox基因特异性引物进行PCR扩增以检测毒素蛋白结构基因,并进行序列测定和分析。结果白喉棒状杆菌在氨苄青霉素作用下可发生细胞壁缺陷而成为L型,白喉棒状杆菌稳定L型不能引起动物局部或全身发生异常表现,该稳定L型的传代培养物可仍然保留同其亲代细菌型一致的Tox基因及其核苷酸序列。结论提示细胞壁缺失将导致白喉棒状杆菌与产生毒素蛋白有关结构基因在宿主菌细胞内的表达受到抑制,以致使白喉棒状杆菌稳定L型丧失了产生外毒素致病的作用。