O-Acetyl groups as a component of the bacteriophage receptor on Staphylococcus aureus cell walls

The capacity of Staphylococcus aureus H cell walls to inactivate bacteriophage 52A was lost by removing O-acetyl groups but not by removing ester-linked d-alanine.

Protein A mutants of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I was exposed to nitrosoguanidine or ethyl-methanesulfonate, and survivors were screened on nutrient agar plates containing rabbit anti-protein A serum for loss of protein A production. More than half of all protein A-deficient mutants also lacked nuclease, coagulase, alpha hemolysin, fibrinolysin, mannitol utilization, and the phage-type pattern. Mutants with a spectrum of these properties were also isolated. Induced or spontaneous reversions of the mutants were observed. The properties of the protein A-deficient mutants suggest that synthesis or release (or both) of a number of extracellular products of S. aureus is controlled by a common regulatory mechanism.