BACTERIAL PERMEABILITY Micrococcus lysodeikticus

Abstract

The lysine pool in M. lysodeikticus accounts for only a small fraction of the total uptake, as determined with large masses of unwashed, starved cells. A comparison of the total lysine uptake by intact cells, protoplasts, and isolated cell walls indicated that the nonpooled uptake was localized and appreciably concentrated in the cell wall region. Washing with water removed only part of the lysine from cells or cell walls. The balance of the lysine apparently was adsorbed and could be increased by repeated exposure, or could be eluted by washing at a pH near that of the isoelectric point of lysine. Apparently it is because of this diffusional uptake and adsorptive concentration by the cell wall that the cell of M. lysodeikticus takes up considerably more lysine than that found in the internal pool.