38 MICROBIAL CELL WALLS 



TABLE 15 ^^ 



C-terminal Amino Acids of Bacterial Cell Walls Determined by 

 Hydrazinoylsis 



* Values uncorrected for possible losses during reaction. 

 f Amino acid not present in these walls. 

 :|: Nondialyzable fraction from lysozyme-digested walls. 

 Data from Salton.^s 



as false "N-terminal" residues. If amino acids occurred 

 as single substituents on muramic acid, or in the form of a 

 side chain linked to the y-carboxyl gioup of glutamic acid, 

 they would also behave as C-terminal substances. The only 

 evidence so far available supporting this suggestion is the 

 report by Perkins and Rogers ^^ that a diffusible compound 

 in partial acid hydrolysates of Micrococcus lysodeikticus 

 walls possessed muramic acid, glucosamine, and glycine in 

 equimolar proportions. The occurrence of substituent 

 groups of glycine on some muramic acid residues would be 

 compatible with the large number of C-terminal groups 

 found in the wall of this organism (see Table 15) and could 

 also explain the origin of free glycine in walls digested with 

 the Streptomyces enzyme complex (Salton and Ghuysen ^i) 



