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PubMed1970

Preparation of Cell Wall Antigens of Staphylococcus aureus.

Cell walls were prepared from Staphylococcus aureus strains Copenhagen and 263 by high-speed mixing in the presence of glass beads followed by differential centrifugation. Insoluble peptidoglycan complexes were derived from cell walls by extraction of teichoic acid with 10% trichloroacetic acid. Intact teichoic acid was prepared from each strain by digestion of cell walls with lysostaphin and isolated by column chromatography. Soluble glycopeptide (peptidoglycan in which only the glycan has been fragmented) and the stable complex of teichoic acid with glycopeptide were prepared by digestion of cell walls with Chalaropsis B endo-N-acetylmuramidase and were separated by column chromatography. Amino acid and amino sugar contents of walls and subunits of walls were comparable to those reported by others.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Opsonic antibodies to Enterococcus faecalis strain 12030 are directed against lipoteichoic acid.

A teichoic acid (TA)-like polysaccharide in Enterococcus faecalis has previously been shown to induce opsonic antibodies that protect against bacteremia after active and passive immunization. Here we present new data providing a corrected structure of the antigen and the epitope against which the opsonic antibodies are directed. Capsular polysaccharide isolated from E. faecalis strain 12030 by enzymatic digestion of peptidoglycan and chromatography (enzyme-TA) was compared with lipoteichoic acid (LTA) extracted using butanol and purified by hydrophobic-interaction chromatography (BuOH-LTA). Structural determinations were carried out by chemical analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Antibody specificity was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the opsonophagocytosis assay. After alanine ester hydrolysis, there was structural identity between enzyme-TA and BuOH-LTA of the TA-parts of the two molecules. The basic enterococcal LTA structure was confirmed: 1,3-poly(glycerol phosphate) nonstoichiometrically substituted at position C-2 of the glycerol residues with d-Ala and kojibiose. We also detected a novel substituent at position C-2, [D-Ala-->6]-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->2-[D-Ala-->6]-alpha-D-Glcp-1-->). Antiserum raised against enzyme-TA bound equally well to BuOH-LTA and dealanylated BuOH-LTA as to the originally described enzyme-TA antigen. BuOH-LTA was a potent inhibitor of opsonophagocytic killing by the antiserum to enzyme-TA. Immunization with antibiotic-killed whole bacterial cells did not induce a significant proportion of antibodies directed against alanylated epitopes on the TA, and opsonic activity was inhibited completely by both alanylated and dealanylated BuOH-LTA. In summary, the E. faecalis strain 12030 enzyme-TA is structurally and immunologically identical to dealanylated LTA. Opsonic antibodies to E. faecalis 12030 are directed predominantly to nonalanylated epitopes on the LTA molecule.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Activation of the alternative complement pathway by pneumococcal lipoteichoic acid.

Cell wall teichoic acids of some gram-positive bacteria are potent activators of the alternative pathway of complement. It is unclear, however, whether the other form of teichoic acid, cell membrane lipoteichoic acid (LTA), can also activate the alternative pathway. In the present study, radiolabelled pneumococcal LTA was found to bind spontaneously to sheep erythrocytes in a temperature- and time-dependent fashion. In addition, the presence of pneumococcal LTA on the erythrocyte surface was verified by the fact that they could be agglutinated by a myeloma protein (TEPC-15) specific for choline, a constituent of pneumococcal LTA. Pneumococcal LTA when fixed to the surface of erythrocytes was able to activate the alternative pathway of complement in both guinea pig serum deficient in the fourth component of complement and human serum deficient in the second component of complement, resulting in lysis of the sensitized erythrocytes. The sensitizing principle of the LTA preparation was removed before erythrocyte sensitization by immunoabsorption, using the choline-specific TEPC-15 myeloma protein. These data demonstrate that purified pneumococcal LTA will bind to sheep erythrocytes and endow them with the ability to activate the alternative pathway.

Animals↗
PubMed1974

Effect of temperature on the growth and cell wall chemistry of a facultative thermophilic Bacillus.

The morphology and cell wall composition of Bacillus coagulans, a facultative thermophile, were examined as a function of growth temperature. The morphology of the organism varied when it was grown at different temperatures; at 37 C the organism grew as individual cells which increased in length with increasing growth temperature. At 55 C it grew in long chains of cells. Cell wall prepared from cells grown at 37 C contained 44% teichoic acid by weight, whereas cells grown at 55 C contained 29% teichoic acid. Teichoic acid from these cells was a polymer of glycerol phosphate containing galactose and ester alanine. The ratio of ester alanine to phosphate was significantly higher in cell walls and teichoic acid from 37 C-grown cells compared with those from 55 C-grown cells. Other differences observed were that cells grown at 55 C contained a lower level of autolytic ability, produced cell walls which bound more Mg(2+), and contained less peptide cross-bridging in its peptidoglycan layer than cells grown at 37 C.

Alanine↗
PubMed1999

Clinical outcome in pneumococcal meningitis correlates with CSF lipoteichoic acid concentrations.

Lipoteichoic and teichoic acids are components of the cell wall of Streptococcus pneumoniae. A recently developed enzyme immunoassay was used in patients with pneumococcal meningitis to investigate lipoteichoic and teichoic acid concentrations in CSF at the first lumbar puncture in relation to the clinical outcome determined by the Glasgow Outcome Scale. Lipoteichoic and teichoic acid concentrations in CSF were significantly associated with neurologic sequelae and mortality in S. pneumoniae meningitis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

A novel serotype-specific gene cassette (gltA-gltB) is required for expression of teichoic acid-associated surface antigens in Listeria monocytogenes of serotype 4b.

Listeria monocytogenes serotype 4b strains account for about 40% of sporadic cases and many epidemics of listeriosis. Mutations in a chromosomal locus resulted in loss of reactivity with all three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) which were specific to serotype 4b and the closely related serotypes 4d and 4e. Here we show that this locus contains a serotype 4b-4d-4e-specific gene cassette (3,071 bp) which consists of two genes, gltA and gltB, and is flanked by palindromic sequences (51 and 44 nucleotides). Complete loss of reactivity with the three serotype-specific MAbs resulted from insertional inactivation of either gltA or gltB. The gltA and gltB mutants were characterized by loss and severe reduction, respectively, of glucose in the teichoic acid, whereas galactose, the other serotype-specific sugar substituent in the teichoic acid, was not affected. Within L. monocytogenes, only strains of serotypes 4b, 4d, and 4e harbored the gltA-gltB cassette, whereas coding sequences on either side of the cassette were conserved among all serotypes. Comparative genomic analysis of a serotype 1/2b strain showed that the 3,071-bp gltA-gltB cassette was replaced by a much shorter (528-bp) and unrelated region, flanked by inverted repeats similar to their counterparts in serotype 4b. These findings indicate that in the evolution of different serotypes of L. monocytogenes, this site in the genome has become occupied by serotype-specific sequences which, in the case of serotype 4b, are essential for expression of serotype-specific surface antigens and presence of glucose substituents in the teichoic acids in the cell wall.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Adherence of peritonitis-causing staphylococci to human peritoneal mesothelial cell monolayers.

The adherence of staphylococci to monolayers of human mesothelial cells was studied. Adherence of Staphylococcus aureus to mesothelial cell monolayers was 3.4-fold better than to plastic (P less than .01) whereas that of Staphylococcus epidermidis was 3.0-fold less than to plastic (P less than .01). Neither serum albumin nor gelatin inhibited staphylococcal binding. S. aureus adherence correlated with the amount of cell wall protein A (r = .63, P less than .05) but not with fibronectin binding; it was significantly inhibited by the addition of purified cell wall lipoteichoic acid (55% +/- 2.7%), teichoic acid (34.5% +/- 3.4%), and protein A (25.6% +/- 2.9%) but not peptidoglycan. Protein A- and teichoic acid-deficient mutants adhered less well than their parent strains, and encapsulated S. epidermidis adhere well to human monothelial cells. Staphylococcal binding may involve cell wall lipoteichoic acid, teichoic acid, and protein A.

Bacterial Adhesion↗
PubMed1984

[Composition of cell walls of 2 mutant strains of Streptomyces chrysomallus].

The cell walls and peptidoglycans of two mutant strains, Streptomyces chrysomallus var. carotenoides and Streptomyces chrysomallus var. macrotetrolidi, were studied. The strains are organisms producing carotenes and antibiotics of the macrotetrolide group. By the qualitative composition of the peptidoglycans the mutants belong to Streptomyces and are similar. Their glycan portion consists of equimolar quantities of N-acetyl glucosamine and muramic acid. The peptide subunit is presented by glutamic acid, L, L-diaminopimelic acid, glycine and alanine. The molar ratio of alanine is 1.2-1.3. The mutant strains differ in the content of carbohydrates, total phosphorus and phosphorus belonging to teichoic acids. Teichoic acids of the cell walls of the both strains are of the ribitolhosphate nature. The cell walls of the mutants contain polysaccharides differing from teichoic acids and consisting of glucose, galactose, arabinose and fucose. The influence of the cell wall composition of the mutant strains on their morphology and metabolism and comparison of the data relative to the mutant strains with those relative to the starting strain are discussed.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1987

Teichoic acid-containing muropeptides from Streptococcus pneumoniae as substrates for the pneumococcal autolysin.

Pneumococcal cell walls in which the normal phosphorylcholine component of the wall teichoic acids is replaced with phosphorylethanolamine cannot absorb the homologous autolytic enzyme and are completely resistant to autolytic degradation (S. Giudicelli and A. Tomasz, J. Bacteriol. 158:1188-1190, 1984). We have now isolated and characterized soluble teichoic acid-containing muropeptides from such cell walls and tested them as substrates for the pneumococcal autolytic enzyme. Both choline- and ethanolamine-containing muropeptides were hydrolyzed to the same extent by the enzyme. Furthermore, free choline concentrations that totally inhibited the digestion of pneumococcal cell walls in vivo and in vitro were without effect when the soluble substrates were used.

Amidohydrolases↗
PubMed1975

Characterization of Micrococcaceae from the urinary tract.

Two hundred and seven urinary strains of staphylococci and micrococci were classified biochemically according to Baird-Parker (1963) and by means of a simplified schema. One hundred and thirteen strains belonged to Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermids or S. saprophyticus (64 strains) according to the simplified schema, respectively to Baird-Parker's sub-groups SI, SII or M3. S. saprophyticus was isolated from young, female out-patients, was relatively resistant to novobiocin and contained poly AbetaC (beta-N-acetylglucosaminyl ribitol teichoic acid and beta-N-acetylglucosaminyl glycerol teichoic acid). S. aureus and S. epidermidis were isolated from older, male in-patients, were sensitive to novobiocin and contained poly A (N-acetylglucosaminyl ribitol teichoic acid), respectively poly B (glucosyl glycerol teichoic acid). Ninety-four strains belonging to other Staphylococcus or Micrococcus subgroups could not be classified by the simplified schema. With few exceptions, these strains were sensitive to novobiocin and either gave a precipitin reaction corresponding to poly C or were non-typable with the teichoic acid reference systems used. The simplified schema is recommended for the classification of coagulase-negative strains of Micrococcaceae.

Acetylglucosamine↗
PubMed1998

Role of Pho-P in transcriptional regulation of genes involved in cell wall anionic polymer biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis.

tagA, tagD, and tuaA operons are responsible for the synthesis of cell wall anionic polymer, teichoic acid, and teichuronic acid, respectively, in Bacillus subtilis. Under phosphate starvation conditions, teichuronic acid is synthesized while teichoic acid synthesis is inhibited. Expression of these genes is controlled by PhoP-PhoR, a two-component system. It has been proposed that Pho-P plays a key role in the activation of tuaA and the repression of tagA and tagD. In this study, we demonstrated the role of Pho-P in the switch process from teichoic acid synthesis to teichuronic acid synthesis, by using an in vitro transcription system. The results indicate that PhoP approximately P is sufficient to repress the transcription of the tagA and tagD promoters and also to activate the transcription of the tuaA promoter.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1980

Structure of the Escherichia coli K2 capsular antigen, a teichoic acid-like polymer.

The primary structure of the K2 antigen of Escherichia coli was elucidated by composition, alkaline fragmentation, dephosphorylation with hydrofluoric acid, periodate oxidation, and methylation analysis. The polymer contains galactose in the pyranosidic and furanosidic ring form. It consists of phosphogaolactopyranosyl glycerol and phosphagalactofuranosyl glycerol units in a molar ratio of 2:1. The sequence of these units is not known. The structure of the K2 antigen is reminiscent of that of certain teichoic acids of gram-positive bacteria. Using microprecipitation, it was shown that in the polymer galactoside is immunodominant.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1975

Loss of D-alanine during sublethal heating of Staphylococcus aureus S6 and magnesium binding during repair.

Staphylococcus aureus S6 sublethally heated at 52 degrees C for 15 min to 0-1 M-potassium phosphate buffer pH 7-2, lost neither the ribitol teichoic acid of the wall nor the glycerol teichoic acid of the membrane. Hurst et al. (1974) showed that this heating caused 40% loss of the cellular Mg, and we now report the loss of 65% of the ester-bound D-alanine of teichoic acid. Repair from sublethal heat injury, measured by the return of salt tolerance, occurs in a simple no-growth medium provided that the cell concentration is less than 5 x 10(8)/ml. During repair, D-alanine is rapidly synthesized. Fully-repaired cells contain four times more D-alanine than do freshly-injured cells. Magnesium is present in the medium at only 3 x 10(-6) M, yet the cellular Mg concentration returns to normal within 1 h of incubation, even in the presence of EDTA. The results suggest that repair occurs in two stages. Soon after injury, in the absence of the competitive effect of D-alanine, Mg is strongly bound to teichoic acid. In repaired or uninjured cells Mg is less strongly bound. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the cation-binding function of teichoic acid.

Alanine↗
PubMed2000

A sheep in wolf's clothing: Listeria innocua strains with teichoic acid-associated surface antigens and genes characteristic of Listeria monocytogenes serogroup 4.

Listeria monocytogenes serotype 4b has been implicated in numerous food-borne epidemics and in a substantial fraction of sporadic listeriosis. A unique lineage of the nonpathogenic species Listeria innocua was found to express teichoic acid-associated surface antigens that were otherwise expressed only by L. monocytogenes of serotype 4b and the rare serotypes 4d and 4e. These L. innocua strains were also found to harbor sequences homologous to the gene gtcA, which has been shown to be essential for teichoic acid glycosylation in L. monocytogenes serotype 4b. Transposon mutagenesis and genetic studies revealed that the gtcA gene identified in this lineage of L. innocua was functional in serotype 4b-like glycosylation of the teichoic acids of these organisms. The genomic organization of the gtcA region was conserved between this lineage of L. innocua and L. monocytogenes serotype 4b. Our data are in agreement with the hypothesis that, in this lineage of L. innocua, gtcA was acquired by lateral transfer from L. monocytogenes serogroup 4. The high degree of nucleotide sequence conservation in the gtcA sequences suggests that such transfer was relatively recent. Transfer events of this type may alter the surface antigenic properties of L. innocua and may eventually lead to evolution of novel pathogenic lineages through additional acquisition of genes from virulent listeriae.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1997

NMR spectroscopic elucidation of the structure of a glycerol teichoic acid-like O-specific polysaccharide of the bacterium Hafnia alvei strain PCM 1199.

The structure of the acidic O-specific polysaccharide of a Gram-negative bacterium, H. alvei strain PCM 1199, was studied by NMR spectroscopy including two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (COSY), total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY), nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY), 1H, 13C heteronuclear single-quantum coherence (HSQC), 1H, 13C heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation (HMBC), and one-dimensional 1H, 31P heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC) experiments. It was found that the polysaccharide contains D-galactose, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose, 4-acetamido-4,6-dideoxy-D-glucose, glycerol, and phosphate in the ratios 1:2:1:1:1, as well as O-acetyl groups in non-stoichiometric amounts. The polysaccharide is similar in structure to teichoic acids of Gram-positive bacteria and has the following structure of the repeating unit: 3)-beta-D-Galp-(1-->3)-alpha-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->3)-beta-D-Quip4NAc-(1- ->1)-Gro- 3-P-(O--> [formula: see text] beta-D-GlcpNAc [formula: see text] The O-specific polysaccharide of H. alvei PCM 1199 is structurally related to another teichoic acid-like O-specific polysaccharide of H. alvei PCM 1205 studied by us earlier.

Carbohydrate Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Characterization of a Bacillus subtilis thermosensitive teichoic acid-deficient mutant: gene mnaA (yvyH) encodes the UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase.

The Bacillus subtilis thermosensitive mutant ts-21 bears two C-G-->T-A transitions in the mnaA gene. At the nonpermissive temperature it is characterized by coccoid cell morphology and reduced cell wall phosphate content. MnaA converts UDP-N-acetylglucosamine into UDP-N-acetylmannosamine, a precursor of the teichoic acid linkage unit.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Structure of a teichoic acid-like O-polysaccharide of Escherichia coli O29.

A teichoic acid-like O-polysaccharide was isolated by mild acid degradation of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Escherichia coli O29. The O-polysaccharide and an oligosaccharide obtained by dephosphorylation of the O-polysaccharide were studied by sugar analysis along with 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The following structure of the branched oligosaccharide repeating unit, containing five monosaccharide residues and glycerol 1-phosphate (D-Gro-1-P), was established: [carbohydrate structure: see text].

Carbohydrate Sequence↗
PubMed1999

Inactivation of the dlt operon in Staphylococcus aureus confers sensitivity to defensins, protegrins, and other antimicrobial peptides.

Positively charged antimicrobial peptides with membrane-damaging activity are produced by animals and humans as components of their innate immunity against bacterial infections and also by many bacteria to inhibit competing microorganisms. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus xylosus, which tolerate high concentrations of several antimicrobial peptides, were mutagenized to identify genes responsible for this insensitivity. Several mutants with increased sensitivity were obtained, which exhibited an altered structure of teichoic acids, major components of the Gram-positive cell wall. The mutant teichoic acids lacked D-alanine, as a result of which the cells carried an increased negative surface charge. The mutant cells bound fewer anionic, but more positively charged proteins. They were sensitive to human defensin HNP1-3, animal-derived protegrins, tachyplesins, and magainin II, and to the bacteria-derived peptides gallidermin and nisin. The mutated genes shared sequence similarity with the dlt genes involved in the transfer of D-alanine into teichoic acids from other Gram-positive bacteria. Wild-type strains bearing additional copies of the dlt operon produced teichoic acids with higher amounts of D-alanine esters, bound cationic proteins less effectively and were less sensitive to antimicrobial peptides. We propose a role of the D-alanine-esterified teichoic acids which occur in many pathogenic bacteria in the protection against human and animal defense systems.

Alanine↗