Morphology and Chemistry of the Bacterial Cell Wall

The location of the mucopeptide in the cell wall of Bacteroides convexus was determined by electron microscope after enzymatic and chemical treatment (papain, pepsin, lysozyme and phenol). In the five layered cell wall the innermost electron dense layer (or a part of it) proved to be the mucopeptide. The molar ratio of amino sugar and amino acid components of purified mucopeptide was about 1:1:1:1:1:1 for glucosamine, muramic acid, L-alanine, D-glutamic acid, DL(meso)-diaminopimelic acid and D-alanine.