46 MICROBIAL CELL WALLS 



TCA are hydrolytic,^^'*^ and the mode of attachment of the 

 teichoic acids remains uncertain at present. The products 

 of acid hydrolysis of the teichoic acids removed from walls 

 by extraction with TCA have been examined by Armstrong 

 et al.,29 and Table 19 illustrates the variety of compounds 

 detectable in the ribitol type; 1:4 anhydroribitol is one of 

 the main products detectable, but, as pointed out by Salton 

 and Pavlik,^' in 6A^ hydrochloric acid hydrolysates of walls 

 a faster-moving component (possibly dianhydroribitol), not 

 previously reported, is detectable on paper chromatograms. 

 One of the interesting features of the structure of the 

 teichoic acids was the discovery of ester-linked alanine, the 

 first reported occurrence of this type of linkage of an amino 

 acid in a natural product. The detailed structure of the 

 ribitol teichoic acid from Bacillus suhtilis has been proposed 



TABLE 19 



Products of Acid Hydrolysis of Teichoic Acid from Different 

 Bacteria 



Lactobacillus Bacillus Staphylococcus 

 arabinosus subtilis aureus 



Reference 29. 



