162 



THE ACTINOMYCETES, Vol. I 



Table 38 



Sugars identified in the cell ivalls of 



actinomycetes (Sohler) 



Organism 



Sugars present 



S. fradiae 



S. griseus 



S. bobiliae 



S. lavendnlae 



S. roseochromogenes 



N. rubra 



N. polijchrotiiogenes 

 N. asteroides 

 Micromonospora sp. 



Glucosamine, hexose 

 Hexosamine, hexose 

 Hexosamine, hexose 

 Uronic acid 



Mannose, galactose, hex- 

 osamine 

 Arabinose, galactose 

 Arabinose, galactose 

 Arabinose, galactose 

 Hexosamine, hexose 



Table 39 



Nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus content of 



actinomycete cell walls (Sohler, Romano, 



and Nickerson) 



* Protein N = total N — hexosamine N. 



bacteria, with traces of LL isomer in some 

 species. In micromonospora, both isomers 

 were present in similar proportions, with 

 possibly a small amount of DD-diaminopi- 

 melic acid. 



Diaminopimelic acid was found in a large 

 number of bacteria by Work and Dewey, 

 Cummins and Harris, and Salton. It has 

 not been found in fungi, yeasts, or plants 

 other than the blue-green algae. Cummins 

 and Harris found that glutamic acid, ala- 

 nine, and diaminopimelic acid are character- 

 istic of most species of corynebacteria. The 

 cell walls of actinomycetes, particulai'ly 



those of nocardias, resemble the cell walls 

 of corynebacteria. 



Work (1957) summarized our recent 

 knowledge of the cell w^alls of bacteria in 

 general and of actinomycetes in particular. 

 These w^alls often constitute 25 per cent or 

 more of the cell weight; they are tough and 

 insoluble in all known solvents. Such wall 

 preparations contained lipids, phosphorus, 

 hexosamines, amino acids and usually car- 

 bohydrates, but had no nucleic acids, pu- 

 rines, or pyrimidines. 



Glucose, mannose, and galactose were 

 found fretiuently, rhamnose and arabinose 

 more rarely. Glucosamine was always pres- 

 ent, while galactosamine occurred in certain 

 species. A hitherto unknown hexosamine was 

 also always present; it was identical with 

 an acidic hexosamine, first found in a prod- 

 uct from bacterial spores, provisionally char- 

 acterized as 3-0-a-carboxyethyl hexosamine 

 and named "muramic acid." The walls prob- 

 ably represent the major, but not necessarily 

 the only, site of diaminopimelic acid; small 

 amounts also occur in soluble cellular con- 

 tents. 



Qualitative examinations of the cell wall 

 constituents were made by Cummins and 

 Harris using a large number of gram-posi- 

 tive Eubacteriales and Actinomycetales. The 

 resulted are summarized in Table 39. They 

 show glucosamine and muramic acid in walls 

 from all organisms, galactosamine in some. 

 Only three or four amino acids were present 

 in each wall preparation ; these were glutamic 

 acid, alanine, and either diaminopimelic 

 acid or lysine, and sometimes also aspartic 

 acid, glycine, or serine. Other amino acids, 

 if present, were only in trace amounts. The 

 distribution of the sugars (glucose, galactose, 

 mannose, arabinose, and rhamnose) ^-aried 

 greatly between the species. The conclusion 

 was reached that "each bacterial genus may 

 have a distinctive pattern of cell wall com- 

 ponents, in particular among the amino acids 

 present." 



