The intracellular teichoic acid from Lactobacillus arabinosus 17–5

Abstract

The intracellular teichoic acid from L. arabinosus 17-5 (whole organisms or cell contents) sediments as a complex with ribonucleic acid and protein on high-speed centrifuging of cell contents. The polymer is composed of glycerol, phosphate, D-glu-cose and D-alanine. The alanine is in ester linkage with OH groups in glycerol residues. An important product of alkali hydrolysis is the diglycerol triphosphate. About 7-8% of the P in teichoic acid remained as phosphodiester after alkali hydrolysis. Another product is 2-O-[alpha]-D-glucopyranosylglycerol. The occurrence of phosphodiester linkages joining positions 1 and 3 in glycerol residues follows from the formation of the triphosphate. Teichoic acid has about 18 glycerol phosphate residues joined through 1,3-linkages. [alpha]-D-Glucopyranosyl residues occur at position 2 on two of the glycerols, and most of the remaining glycerol residues bear D-alanine ester residues at their position 2.