Monomer Addition as a Mechanism of Forming Peptide Cross-Links in the Cell-Wall Peptidoglycan of Streptococcus faecalis ATCC 9790

Abstract

The relative amounts of radioactively labelled disaccharide-peptide monomers and peptide-cross-linked dimers and trimers found in the peptidoglycan of Streptococcus faecalis ATCC 9790 were compared to the relative amounts to be expected from two different polymerization mechanisms (random condensation and monomer addition). Data from continuously-labeled, exponentially-growing cells are consistent with a monomer addition cross-linking process, not with a random condensation cross-linking mechanism. This conclusion was supported by data obtained from analyses of cells labeled during valine starvation (and wall thickening), recovery from valine starvation, and pulse and pulse-chase labeling of walls from exponentially-growing cultures.