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A R Archibald

Publications and source records attributed to A R Archibald.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1978

Effect of specific growth limitations on cell wall composition of Staphylococcus aureus H.

Conditions are described for the continuous culture of a derivative of Staphylococcus aureus H in a fully defined minimal medium in which cysteine is the sole amino acid. The effects of growth under various nutrient limitations on the composition and properties of the cell wall have been studied. The proportion of ribitol teichoic acid present in the wall, and the extent to which it is substituted with N-acetylglucosamine, varies in bacteria grown under different conditions as does the composition and extent of cross-linking of the peptidoglycan. Neither the derivative nor the original strain H produced teichuronic acid when grown under phosphate limitation.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1978

Further evidence for the structure of the teichoic acids from Bacillus stearothermophilus B65 and Bacillus subtilis var. niger WM.

Bacillus stearothermophilus B65 and Bacillus subtilis var. niger WM both contain teichoic acids in their walls composed of glycerol, phosphate and glucose. The 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of B. stearothermophilus teichoic acid showed 13C-31P coupling on the signals from the C-5 and C-6 carbon atoms of the glucose molecule and an alpha-glucosidic linkage between glucose and the C-1 atom of the glycerol moiety. These data are consistent with a poly[glucosylglycerol phosphate] as the cell-wall teichoic acid in this organism. B. subtilis var. niger WM teichoic acid was oxidized by periodate and incubated in glycine buffer at pH 10.5. This treatment did not significantly increase the phosphomonoester content (by beta-elimination of the phosphate groups) of the teichoic acid molecule (7.1 to 9.5%), which is in accordance with earlier data derived from 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy [De Boer et al. (1976) Eur. J. Biochem. 62, 1-6], that in this organism the glucose is not an integral part of the polymer chain. Similar treatment of B. stearothermophilus B65 teichoic acid increased the phosphomonoester content of the preparation from 0.15 to 68.1%.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1978

The linkage of sugar phosphate polymer to peptidoglycan in walls of Micrococcus sp. 2102.

1. Protein-free walls of Micrococcus sp. 2102 contain peptidoglycan, poly-(N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate) and small amounts of glycerol phosphate. 2. After destruction of the poly-(N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate) with periodate, the glycerol phosphate remains attached to the wall, but can be removed by controlled alkaline hydrolysis. The homogeneous product comprises a chain of three glycerol phosphates and an additional phosphate residue. 3. The poly-(N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate) is attached through its terminal phosphate to one end of the tri(glycerol phosphate). 4. The other end of the glycerol phosphate trimer is attached through its terminal phosphate to the 3-or 4-position of an N-acetylglucosamine. It is concluded that the sequence of residues in the sugar 1-phosphate polymer-peptidoglycan complex is: (N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate)24-(glycerol phosphate)3-N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate-muramic acid (in peptidoglycan). Thus in this organism the phosphorylated wall polymer is attached to the peptidoglycan of the wall through a linkage unit comprising a chain of three glycerol phosphate residues and an N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate, similar to or identical with the linkage unit in Staphylococcus aureus H.

Cell Wall↗
PubMed1978

Cell wall assembly in Bacillus subtilis: location of wall material incorporated during pulsed release of phosphate limitation, its accessibility to bacteriophages and concanavalin A, and its susceptibility to turnover.

Addition of a pulse of phosphate to a phosphate-limited chemostat culture of Bacillus subtilis W23 led to the synthesis of teichoic acid and the consequent development by the bacteria of the ability to bind phage SP50. In cultures growing at different rates, phage-binding properties became maximal approximately one generation time after addition of the pulse. Removal of the incorporated teichoic acid by turnover also reached its maximum rate after a similar interval. After pulsed release of phosphate limitation in B. subtilis NCTC 3610, the alpha-glucosyl residues of the incorporated teichoic acid, detected by their interaction with concanavalin A, became maximally exposed at the same time that phage binding was maximum. At that time the bacteria bound phage all over the cylindrical part of the surface and at about one-third of the polar caps. That fraction of the receptor material that is exposed soon after its incorporation was distributed along the cylindrical length of most of the bacteria, but few phages bound to the polar caps, except in the case of short bacteria; these bound phages in a markedly asymmetric manner at one pole and along their length. The significance of these results is discussed in relation to the mode of assembly of the cell wall.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1976

Bacteriophage SP50 as a marker for cell wall growth in Bacillus subtilis.

When grown under conditions of phosphate limitation, Bacillus subtilis W23 lacked wall teichoic acid and did not adsorb phage SP50. During transition from growth under conditions of phosphate limitation to those of potassium limitation, the bacteria developed an ability to adsorb phage which increased exponentially in relation to their content of wall teichoic acid. During transition in the reverse direction, the bacteria retained near-maximum phage-binding properties until their content of wall teichoic acid had fallen to a fairly low level. These observations suggest that newly incorporated wall material does not immediately appear at the cell surface in a structure to which phage can adsorb. Examination of the location of adsorbed phage particles showed that recently incorporated receptor material appeared at the cell surface first along the length of the cylindrical portion of the cell. The results are consistent with models of wall assembly in which newly synthesized wall material is intercalated at a large number of sites that are distributed along the length of the cell. This newly incorporated material may be located initially at a level underlying the surface of the cell and may become exposed at the surface only during subsequent growth. Incorporation of new material may also proceed rapidly into the developing septa, but new wall material is incorporated into existing polar caps more slowly, or perhaps not at all.

Adsorption↗
PubMed1976

Cell wall assembly in Bacillus subtilis: development of bacteriophage-binding properties as a result of the pulsed incorporation of teichoic acid.

Addition of a pulse of excess phosphate to a phosphate-limited culture of Bacillus subtilis W23 resulted in the synthesis and incorporation of wall material that contained teichoic acid. Consequently, the bacteria regained the ability to bind phage SP50 although maximum phage-binding properties did not develop until approximately half a generation time after incorporation of teichoic acid had ceased. The present findings strongly support our earlier suggestion that newly synthesized receptor material is incorporated at the inner surface of the wall and becomes exposed at the outer surface only during subsequent growth.

Adsorption↗
PubMed1975

Alterations in the composition and bacteriophage-binding properties of walls of Staphylococcus aureus H grown in continuous culture in simplified defined media.

A nutritional mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H has been isolated and grown in media in which the only amino acids are arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid and proline. Walls of the bacteria grown in such media in continuous culture under potassium limitation differ in composition from walls of the bacteria grown in batch culture in rich nutrient broth in that they contain less glycine, the peptidoglycan component is less highly cross-linked and the teichoic acid component contains a reduced proportion of N-acetylglucosaminyl substituents. Walls of the potassium-limited bacteria retain the ability to bind bacteriophage 52a but are more susceptible to the action of lytic peptidases than are wall samples in which the peptidoglycan is more highly cross-linked. Teichoic acid was present in walls of the bacteria grown under phosphate limitation in the defined medium and these walls were also able to absorb bacteriophage 52a.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1975

Studies on the linkage between teichoic acid and peptidoglycan in a bacteriophage-resistant mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H.

1. In addition to poly(ribitol phosphate) the walls of a bacteriophage-resistant mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H contain glycerol phosphate residues that are not removed on digestion with trypsin or extraction with phenol. 2. The glycerol phosphate is present in a chain, containing three or four glycerol phosphate residues, which is covalently attached to the peptidoglycan through a phosphodiester linkage to muramic acid; this linkage is readily hydrolysed by dilute alkali. 3. The degradative studies described suggest that the poly(ribitol phosphate) chains of the wall teichoic acid may be attached to the wall by linkage to this glycerol phosphate oligomer.

Cell Wall↗
PubMed1975

Poly(glucosylglycerol phosphate) teichoic acid in the walls of Bacillus stearothermophilus B65.

1. Walls of Bacillus stearothermophilus B65 contain a glycerol teichoic acid in which repeating structures consisting of 1-O-alpha-D-glucopyranosylglycerol phosphate are held together by phosphodiester linkage between the glycerol and glucose moieties of adjacent units. 2. The walls are not agglutinated on incubation with concanavalin A, nor does the isolated teichoic acid form a precipitate with this lectin. 3. No evidence was obtained of the presence of the glucosylated (1 leads to 2)-poly(glycerol phosphate) teichoic acid which has previously been reported to occur in walls of this bacterium.

Borohydrides↗
PubMed1975

An electron microscopic study of the location of teichoic acid and its contribution to staining reactions in walls of Streptococcus faecalis 8191.

The location of the glucosylated teichoic acid in whole cells and isolated walls of Streptococcus faecalis 8191 has been investigated using ruthenium red, gold-labelled concanavalin A and concanavalin A-peroxidase-diaminobenzidine. Dense laminae were revealed in sections of osmium-fixed walls stained with ruthenium red which corresponded to similar regions stained by uranyl and lead. Such regions were not seen after teichoic acid had been extracted, suggesting that the uptake of stain was by teichoic acid. However, these regions were not labelled on exposure to gold concanavalin A or concanavalin A-peroxidase-diaminobenzidine; these stains indicated that teichoic acid was situated between the dense laminae, although the distribution of stain could have been due to the inability of the concanavalin A stains to penetrate deeply. Chemical binding studies showed that the teichoic acid was the major uranyl binding component in isolated walls, from which it might be inferred that teichoic acid was located in the densely staining regions. However, since osmification significantly increased the binding of uranyl (and lead stains) to non-teichoic acid material, such an inference was not necessarily valid. It is concluded that the presence of teichoic acid can be demonstrated in certain regions of the wall by concanavalin A, but its presence in densely staining regions has not been established. These experiments therefore suggest that teichoic acid may not be intimately associated with the mechanisms that generate contrast patterns in stained sections of cell walls of Streptococcus faecalis.

3,3'-Diaminobenzidine↗