| Abstract: | Anionic phosphate-containing cell wall polymers of bacilli are represented by teichoic acids and poly(glycosyl 1-phosphates).
Different locations of phosphodiester bonds in the main chain of teichoic acids as well as the nature and combination of the
constituent structural elements underlie their structural diversity. Currently, the structures of teichoic acids of bacilli
can be classified into three types, viz. poly(polyol phosphates) with glycerol or ribitol as the polyol; poly(glycosylpolyol
phosphates), mainly glycerol-containing polymers; and poly(acylglycosylglycerol phosphate), in which the components are covalently
linked through glycosidic, phosphodiester, and amide bonds. In addition to teichoic acids, poly(glycosyl 1-phosphates) with
mono- and disaccharide residues in the repeating units have been detected in cell walls of several Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus strains. The known structures of teichoic acids and poly(glycosyl 1-phosphates) of B. subtilis, B. atrophaeus, B. licheniformis, B. pumilus, B. stearothermophilus, B. coagulans, B. cereus as well as oligomers that link the polymers to peptidoglycan are surveyed. The reported data on the structures of phosphate-containing
polymers of different strains of B. subtilis suggest heterogeneity of the species and may be of interest for the taxonomy of bacilli to allow differentiation of closely
related organisms according to the “structures and composition of cell wall polymers” criterion |
