The chain length of the glycans in bacterial cell walls

Exo-beta-N-acetylmuramidase--a novel hexosaminidase. Production by Bacillus subtilis B, purification and characterization

Exo-beta-N-acetylmuramidase, or beta-2-acetamido-3-O-(D-1-carboxyethyl)-2-deoxy-D-glucoside acetamidodeoxyglucohydrolase, is produced by Bacillus subtilis B, growing in a succinate/peptone/salts medium, at the end of exponential growth and occurs partly in the medium and partly bound to the cells. A lysozyme digest of Micrococcus lysodeikticus cell walls, O-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 leads to 4)-2-acetamido-3-O-(D-1-carboxyethyl)-2-deoxy-D-glucose and O-[2-acetamide-3-O-(D-1-carboxyethyl)-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranosyl]-(1 leads to 4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose in decreasing order of efficiency, induce the enzyme but O-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 leads to 4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose does not do so. The enzyme was purified from the growth medium, after removal of the cells by continuous centrifugation, by ammonium sulphate precipitation, continuous filtration through XM-300 membranes (to remove the high-molecular-weight material which renders the enzyme sedimentable in low-ionic-strength solutions), diafiltration through PM-30 membranes and ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex and CM-Sephadex. Two peaks of activity were obtained. Peak A was purified 1800-fold and was homogenous on polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. A second heterogeneous fraction (peak B) was also collected. Exo-beta-N-acetylmuramidase is most stable at pH 8.0 and has a molecular weight of about 90000. The results of studies on its ability to attack several synthetic and natural substrates are given. The Km and V values for 4-methylumbelliferyl-2-acetamido-3-O-(D-1-carboxyethyl)-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucose and O-[2-acetamido-3-O-(D-1-carboxyethyl)-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranosyl]-(1 leads to 4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose are respectively 0.19 and 0.65 mM and 1.50 and 16.29 mumol min(-1) mg(-1). From these results and those of inhibition studies it is concluded that the enzyme is specific for substrates with non-reducing N-acetylmuramic acid end groups. Possible roles for this enzyme are discussed.

Turnover and spreading of old wall during surface growth of Bacillus subtilis

The steady-state concentration of cell wall turnover products in the medium of Bacillus subtilis 168 growing exponentially on a casein hydrolysate-supplemented medium is equivalent to an overall rate of turnover of less than 10% per generation. After transfer of a steady-labeled culture to nonradioactive medium, the rate of release of labeled turnover products increased exponentially for up to two generations. The rate of turnover finally attained by this culture reached an apparently first-order rate of about 50% per generation. The addition of soluble autolytic activity to growing cultures of a mutant possessing a reduced rate of wall turnover resulted in a marked stimulation in the rate of solubilization of the cell wall fraction. The increased rate of solubilization produced was proportional to the concentration of added enzyme and remained constant until less than 20% of the wall originally present was left. Autolytic activity added under these conditions was bound entirely to wall at least one generation old. The results are interpreted in terms of a model for cell wall growth in which wall two or more generations old covers a total surface area at least four times larger than that occupied at the time of synthesis, forming a shallow outer layer (overlying newer wall) from which all turnover takes place. The model is discussed in relation to previous attempts to determine the pattern of surface expansion in bacilli.

Formation of cell wall polymers by reverting protoplasts of Bacillus licheniformis

The biosynthesis of peptidoglycan and teichoic acid by reverting protoplasts of Bacillus licheniformis 6346 His-, in cubated at 35 C on medium containing 2.5% agar, is detectable after 40 min. The amount of N-acetyl-[1-14C]glucosamine incorporated into peptidoglycan and teichoic acid on continued incubation doubles at the same rate as the incorporation of [3H]tryptophan into protein. At the early stages of reversion the average glycan chain length, measured by the ratio of free reducing groups of muramic acid and glucosamine to total muramic acid present, is very short. As reversion proceeds, the average chain length increases to a value similar to the found in the wall of the parent bacillus. The extent of cross-linkage found in the peptide side chains of the peptidoglycan also increases as reversion proceeds. At the completion of reversion the wall material synthesized has similar characteristics to those of the walls of the parent bacilli, containing peptidoglycan and teichoic and teichuronic acids in about the same proportions. Soluble peptidoglycan can be isolated from the reversion medium, amounting to 30% of the total formed after 3 h of incubation and 8% after 12 h. This amount was reduced by the presence in the medium of the walls of an autolysin-deficient mutant; they were not formed at all by reverting protoplasts of the autolysin-deficient mutant itself. Analysis of the soluble material provided additional evidence for their being autolytic products rather than small unchanged molecules. When protoplasts were incubated on medium containing only 0.8% agar, 53 to 67% of the peptidoglycan formed after 3 h of incubation was soluble, and 21% after 12 h. Fibers that appeared to be sheared from the protoplasts at intermediate stages of reversion on medium containing 2.5% agar were similar in composition to the bacillary walls.

Peptidoglycan synthesis in Bacillus licheniformis. The inhibition of cross-linking by benzylpenicillin and cephaloridine in vivo accompanied by the formation of soluble peptidoglycan

The synthesis of peptidoglycan by an autolysin-deficient beta-lactamase-negative mutant of Bacillus licheniformis was studied in vivo in the absence of protein synthesis. Benzylpenicillin and cephaloridine inhibited the formation of cross-bridges between newly synthesized peptidoglycan and the pre-existing cell wall. This inhibition, detected by measurement of the incorporation of N-acetyl[14C]glucosamine into the glycan fraction of the cell wall, was reversed by treatment with beta-lactamase and washing. Inhibition of D-alanine carboxypeptidase by benzylpenicillin was not reversed under similar conditions. Cells in which the initial penicillin inhibition of transpeptidation had been reversed showed an increased sensitivity to a subsequent addition of the antibiotic. Chemical analysis of peptidoglycan synthesized after reversal of penicillin inhibition revealed the presence of excess of alanine resulting from the continued inhibition of D-alanine carboxypeptidase. When the cell walls were digested to yield muropeptides so that the degree of cross-linking could be measured, the product after reversal of penicillin inhibition contained fewer cross-links than did the control preparation. Cultures treated with benzylpenicillin and cephaloridine continued to synthesize uncross-linked soluble peptidoglycan, which accumulated in the medium. This soluble material was all newly synthesized peptidoglycan and did not result from autolysis of the bacteria. The average chain lengths of the glycan synthesized in vivo and released as soluble peptidoglycan in the presence of both benzylpenicillin and cephaloridine were similar to those found previously in this organism.

The synthesis of peptidoglycan in an autolysin-deficient mutant of Bacillus licheniformis N.C.T.C. 6346 and the effect of beta-lactam antibiotics, bacitracin and vancomycin

The synthesis of peptidoglycan by cell-free membrane and membrane+wall preparations from an autolysin-deficient, beta-lactamase-negative mutant of Bacillus licheniformis N.C.T.C. 6346 was studied. The membrane preparation synthesized un-cross-linked polymer, the formation of which was not inhibited by beta-lactam antibiotics. Release of d-alanine by the action of d-alanine carboxypeptidase was inhibited variably according to the antibiotic. This inhibition was reversed by neutral hydroxylamine but not by the action of beta-lactamases or by washing. Bacitracin inhibited peptidoglycan synthesis, but not the d-alanine carboxypeptidase. Examination of peptidoglycan synthesized in the presence of excess of bacitracin showed that synthesis was not restricted to the addition of one disaccharide-pentapeptide unit at each synthetic site, an average of 2-3 disaccharide-pentapeptide units being added. Peptidoglycan synthesis was three- to four-fold more sensitive to vancomycin than was the release of d-alanine by the action of the carboxypeptidase. Incorporation of newly synthesized peptidoglycan into pre-existing cell wall was studied in membrane+wall preparations. This incorporation was catalysed by a benzylpenicillin- and cephaloridine-sensitive transpeptidase. The concentrations of these antibiotics giving 50% inhibition of incorporation were almost identical with those required to inhibit growth of the bacillus. Inhibition of the transpeptidase was reversed by treatment with beta-lactamase or by washing.

Characterization of Bacillus licheniformis 6346 mutants which have altered lytic enzyme activities

Two groups of mutants altered in lytic enzyme activities have been isolated from Bacillus licheniformis 6346 MH-1 by screening clones for halo production in agar plates containing cell wall conjugated with Procion brilliant red. In the first group which produced halos during colony formation, two were shown to contain three- and eightfold more muramyl-l-alanine amidase than the parent. These strains liberated amidase and intracellular alpha-glucosidase into the culture medium during exponential growth in liquid medium. Isolated walls had a normal qualitative composition and in autolysing liberated N-terminal amino acids and reducing groups. Wall preparations from the second group of mutants which did not produce halos lysed very poorly at pH 9.5, the optimal pH for amidase activity, and poorly at pH 5.5 even though they had similar endo-N-acetylglucosaminidase activities to the parent. Two of these strains that were also deficient in phosphoglucomutase had only 3 to 5% of the membrane-bound amidase activity compared with that in the parent. Cell walls of the phosphoglucomutase-deficient mutants treated with sodium dodecyl sulfate to inactivate endogenous lytic enzymes were dissolved at 10% of the rate of those from the parent by added amidase, but their sensitivities to lysozyme were similar. Those from one mutant had 10 to 20% of the amidase-binding capacity of parent walls, whereas its isolated mucopeptide was essentially inactive in this respect. The failure of these phosphoglucomutase-deficient mutants to autolyse is likely to be due to the combined effects of both low amidase activity and resistant walls. As a result, daughter cells are unable to separate and long chains are formed during exponential growth.

The direction of glycan synthesis in a bacterial peptidoglycan

A cell-free membrane preparation from a poorly lytic mutant of Bacillus licheniformis was used to synthesize radioactive peptidoglycan. The product was apparently un-cross-linked. When UDP-N-acetyl[(14)C]glucosamine was used and the final peptidoglycan subjected to Smith degradation, no radioactive glycerol was found. On the other hand, when peptidoglycan labelled with meso-diamino[(14)C]pimelic acid was first hydrolysed in 0.1m-HCl at 60 degrees C for 2h and then subjected to alkaline conditions, radioactive lactyl-peptides were eliminated. The proportion of radioactive lactyl-peptide decreased with increasing time of incorporation. It is concluded that the glycan chains grow by extension at their reducing ends while remaining attached by some linkage labile to mild acid, such as a glycosyl link to undecaprenol pyrophosphate.