Disruption of Wall-less Bacteria by Streptococcal and Staphylococcal Toxins

Abstract

Earlier studies demonstrating that staphylococcal [alpha]-toxin and strepto-lysin-S have the capacity to lyse protoplasts and spheroplasts of certain species of bacteria and Mycoplasma have been extended to encompass additional kinds of wall-less bacteria including L-forms. It is suggested that sensitivity to staphylococcal [alpha]-toxin and streptolysin-S may be explicable in terms of specific phospholipid composition of cell membranes, whereas sensitivity to streptolysin-0 is dependent upon the presence in cell membranes of cholesterol. The results suggest that streptolysin-O might prove to be a useful reagent for differentiating L forms from parasitic pleuropneumonia-like organisms.