The cell wall of the obligate intracellular bacterial parasite of small free-living amoebae. I. Morphology and chemical composition of the rigid layer and peptidoglycan.

The obligate intracellular bacterial parasite "OIBP" of small free-living amoebae, discovered by Drozanski (1956) was propagated in axenic culture of Acanthamoeba castellanii. The peptidoglycan prepared by chemical extraction of intact cells of the bacterium was examined in a transmission electron microscope and analysed chemically. Electron micrographs of heavy metal shadowed preparations revealed a bag-shaped membraneous structure resembling that of the peptidoglycan sacculi of Escherichia coli and the other gram-negative bacteria so far studied. The peptidoglycan may be present in a lipoprotein-peptidoglycan complex, as proteolytic enzyme treatment resulted in changes of the ultrastructure and in chemical composition. Results of chemical analysis of acid hydrolysed peptidoglycan indicate the presence of two aminosugars; glucosamine and muramic acid and also significant amounts of glycine together with three major amino acids; alanine, glutamic acid and diaminopimelic acid. It was shown that the peptidoglycan was, however, resistant to the hydrolytic action of egg-white lysozyme and to the lysosomal endo N-acetylmuramidases of amoebael origin.

Structure of rigid-layer of Rhizobium cell wall. I. Purification on the peptidoglycan from the cellulose microfibrils.

The bag shaped peptidoglycan layer of Rhizobium cell wall was isolated from intact cells after treatment with sodium dodecylsulfate and trypsin, chymotrypsin or pepsin digestion. Results of chemical analysis of acid hydrolyzed peptidoglycan revealed beside two amino sugars: glucosamine and muramic acid, three major amino acids; alanine, glutamic acid and 2,6-diaminopimelic acid and also significant amount of glucose. Evidence were provided that the polyglucose found in peptidoglycan preparations of three strains of Rhizobium trifolii, one of Rhizobium leguminosarum and one of Rhizobium meliloti consist of cellulose microfibrils. The content of cellulose present in Rhizobium peptidoglycans ranged from 60 to 80%. Methods of peptidoglycan purification from the cellulose microfibrils are described.

Structure of the rigid-layer of rhizobium cell wall. II. Evidence for a covalent bond between peptidoglycan and cellodextrins.

Covalent linkages between peptidoglycan and cellodextrins in the cell walls of Rhizobium were defined by the analysis of lysozyme split products. Digestion of peptidoglycan with lysozyme resulted in the liberation, beside disaccharide tetrapeptide fragments composed of glucosamine, muramic acid, alanine, glutamic acid and diaminopimelic acid in a molar ratio 1:1:2:1:1, also significant amounts of glucose and its polymers. The neutral carbohydrates composed of glucose, were further purified and determined as cellobiose, cellotriose and cellotetrose. Peptidoglycans pretreated with cellulase, which librated glucose and cellobiose, still contains glucose linked by lysozyme sensitive but cellulase insensitive bond.

Genetic transformation in Rhizobium trifolii.

Markers controlling the synthesis of amino acids and organic bases as well as streptomycin resistance and sensitivity to acriflavine were transformed in Rhizobium trifolii. The results indicate that the str marker was transformed independently of leu, his, ade and trp markers. Co-transformation of leu and utra markers ranged from 3 to 7%, whereas that of thi and acr was 10%.