76 



MICROBIAL CELL WALLS 



phosphoglycerol from normal cells of Lactobacillus arabi- 

 nosus, and the search for the biochemical functions of these 

 nucleotides led them to the discovery of the cell-wall teichoic 

 acids. Cell-wall nucleotide intermediates have been found 

 in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and 

 some of the nucleotides so far identified are listed in 

 Table 23. 



Nucleotide accumulation also occurs with the antibiotics 

 bacitracin ^^ and novobiocin,*^^ and recent studies by two 

 groups of workers have shown that 5-fluorouracil induces 

 nucleotides to accumulate. '^-^^ xhe precise manner in 

 which penicillin brings about the accumulation of the vari- 



TABLE 23 



Nucleotides Identified as Probable Cell-Wall Intermediates in 

 Various Bacteria 



Organism 



Inhibitor 



Nucleotide 



Staphylococcus 

 aureus 



Escherichia coli 

 (DAP-depend- 

 ent mutant) 



Streptococcus 

 (Group A) 



Lactobacillus 

 arabinosus 



Penicillin 



UDP-AG-lact-ala-glu-lys-ala-ala 

 UDP-AG-lact-ala 

 UDP-AG-lact * 

 UDP-AG-lact-ala-glu-lys 

 jUDP-AG-lact-ala-glu 

 I UDP-AG-lact-ala 

 Gentian violet CDP-ribitol 



None UDP-AG-Iact-ala-glu-DAP-ala-ala 



DAP-depriva- UDP-AG-Iact-ala-glu 



tion 

 None UDP-AG-lact 



Oxamycin 

 Lysine-dep- 

 rivation 



None 



CDP-ribitol 



* UDP-AG-lact = uridine diphospho-N-acetylmuramic acid. 

 References 28-30, 35, 61-70. 



