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The chemical nature of the cytoplasmic membrane and cell wall of Bacillus megaterium, strain M

1958; Elsevier BV; Volume: 30; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0006-3002(58)90059-3

1878-2434

Claes Weibull, L. Bergström,

Meat and Animal Product Quality

It has been shown that the cytoplasmic membrane and the cell wall of Bacillus megaterium, strain M, are chemically quite different from each other. The wall contains large amounts of diaminopimelic acid and hexosamine. These substances are absent from the membrane. The phosphorus content of the wall is higher than that of the membrane, while its nitrogen content is lower. The cytoplasmic membrane can be characterized as a lipoprotein complex, perhaps containing smaller amounts of carbohydrate (glucose). Nucleic acids are essentially absent. It seems highly probable that the complete cytochrome system of the cells is present in the membrane. Heavy, granular structures associated with some of the purified membranes do not contain any diaminopimelic acid, hexosamine, nucleic acids and probably no cytochromes. Analytical data suggest that these granules contain non-proteinaceous, nitrogenous compounds. Their lipid and phosphorus content is about the same as or lower than that of the membranes.