Evidence for the presence of sulfated polysaccharides in the cell walls of an Arthrobacter sp.

Abstract

The chemical composition of the cell walls of Arthrobacter sp. AT-25 was investigated. The purified cell walls were composed of D-galactose, D-glucose, sulfate, phosphorus, muramic acid, glucosamine, alanine, glutamic acid, glycine, and LL-diaminopimelic acid in a molar ratio of 4.1:0.88:5.7:0.44:0.65:0.85:2.0:1.0:1.1:1.1. On mild treatment with acid, the cell walls readily released a special structure, the non-peptidoglycan portion, and gave an insoluble peptidoglycan, soluble sulfated polysaccharides, and a phosphorus-rich fraction in respective yields of 41, 40 and 6%. The peptidoglycan contained two phosphate esters, muramic acid 6-phosphate and glucosamine 6-phosphate, while the special structure (sulfated polysaccharides plus a phosphorus-rich fraction) contained three phosphate esters, glucose 6-phosphate, and glycerol 1- and 2-phosphate. These results indicate that the cell walls of the bacteria contain highly sulfated polysaccharides with low degrees of phosphorylation. This paper reports the presence of a novel special structure in the cell walls of the grampositive bacteria.