Some Biochemical Differences 



435 



heating. It was not reducing to cupric or argentammonium salts 

 and gave no colour witli iodine. These properties suggested that 

 it was a mucoprotein. It was not hydrolysed by saliva, diastase, 

 hyaluronidase, DNA-ase, RNA-ase, lysozyme + versene (as used 

 in part I ) , suspensions of the Hildenborough strain whether live 

 or acetone dried. Hydrolysis for 9 hr. at 100 C in 5 N HCL in 

 vacuo yielded an amino-acid mixture and a sugar. Tliese were 

 analysed qualitatively by paper chromatography with the re- 

 sults shown in Table 2; the usual amino-acids were present and 

 the only sugar was an aldo-hexose. This ran parallel with man- 

 nose in four solvent mixtures; we are indebted to Dr. D.A.L. 

 Davies of Porton for confirming that it was truly mannose. Tryp^ 

 tophan was demonstrated in the unhydrolysed mucin. 



It was possible that the mucin represented hyper-secreted 



TABLE 2 



Compounds Detected in Hydrolysed Preparations From 

 Desulfovibrio Desulfuricans 



* Demonstrated in un-hydrolysed material. 



