Peptidoglycan .Types of Bacterial Cell Walls and their Taxonomic ...

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BACTERIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Dec. 1972. p. 407-477 Vol. 36, No. 4 Copyright © 1972 American Society for Microbiology Printed in U.S.A. Peptidoglycan .Types of Bacterial Cell Walls and their Taxonomic Implications KARL HEINZ SCHLEIFER AND OTTO KANDLER Botanisches Institut der Universitat Munchen, BRD 8 Munchen 19, Menzinger Str. 67, Germany and Deutsche Sammlung fur Mikroorganismen, Arbeitsgruppe Munchen, in der Gesellschaft [fir Strahlen- und Umweltforschung m.b.H. Munchen, Germany INTRODUCTION.407 DIFFERENT PRIMARY STRUCTURES OF THE PEPTIDOGLYCAN.408 General Structures.408 Glycan strands ......................................................... 408 Peptide moiety ............................................................. 409 Determination of the Amino AcidSequence. .................................. 409 Enzymatic procedure.409 Chemical method ............................................................. 410 Rapid screening method ...................................................... 414 Variation of the PeptideMoiety. ............................................ 414 Variation of the peptidesubunit. .......................................... 414 Variation of the mode of cross-linkage.416 Summary of the New Classification System of Peptidoglycans.423 Stability of Peptidoglycan Structure Under Different Conditions of Growth...... 424 Summary........... 425 PROPOSAL FOR A CONCISE SYSTEM FOR CHARACTERIZATION AND REPRESENTATION OF PEPTIDOGLYCAN TYPES.426 Peptidoglycan Group A.426 SubgroupAl. 426 Subgroup A2.426 Subgroup A3.426 Subgroup A4.426 Peptidoglycan Group B.426 CORRELATION BETWEEN PEPTIDOGLYCAN TYPES AND TAXONOMIC GROUPING OF BACTERIA.427 Gram-Negative.Bacteria.427 Gram-Positive Bacteria.428 Family Micrococcaceae.428 Family Lactobacillaceae.435 Family Bacillaceae.444 Family Corynebacteriaceae.446 Family Propionibacteriaceae . .. .453 Order Actinomycetales.453 Actinomycetales of uncertain taxonomic position.456 Order Caryophanales.457 Order Spirochaetales.457 Order Myxobacteriales......................................... 458 FINAL REMARKS.458 Taxonomic Implications of Other Cell Wall Polymers.458 Lipopolysaccharides.458 Polysaccharides.459 Teichoic acids.459 Teichuronic acids.459 Lipids.459 Taxonomic Relevance and Evolutionary Trends of Peptidoglycan Structure .... 460 LITERATURE CITED.462 INTRODUCTION utes to the shape of the bacterium but is also responsible for the different stainability of a The cell wall is the basis for several classical cell, for most of the serological behavior, and for taxonomic characteristics. It not only contrib- phage adsorption. 407 Downloaded from http://mmbr.asm.org/ on December 3, 2012 by guest
408 SCHLEIFER AND KANDLER BACTERIOL. REV. One of the basic markers for the differentiation of bacteria is the so-called Gram reaction. The gram-positive bacteria are distinguished by their ability to hold back the dye-iodine complex, whereas the gram-negative organisms are decolorized after treatment with alcohol. The mechanism of the Gram reaction has not yet been unraveled, but Salton (326) favors an involvement of the cell wall and has suggested a permeability difference between the cell walls of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as the basis for the Gram reaction. This is in agreement with the findings that the positive or negative response to this reaction is reflected in the different ultrastructure of the cell wall. The cell wall of a gram-positive bacterium shows in profile one thick and more or less homogenous layer, whereas the profile of the cell wall of a gram-negative bacterium is remarkably complex and consists of several layers. A number of excellent monographs and reviews have recently appeared (see references 57, 89, 118, and 269 for more detailed information). The polymers making up the cell walls are chemically quite different in these two groups of bacteria. The gram negatives contain as major components lipopolysaccharide, lipoprotein, and relatively little peptidoglycan (less than 10% of the total cell wall) in their cell walls, whereas the walls of gram positives are mainly composed of peptidoglycan (usually 30-70% of the total cell wall), polysaccharides or teichoic acid (or both), or teichuronic acid. The peptidoglycan is the only cell wall polymer common to both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. It has also been found among blue-green algae (96, 102, 142). Thus peptidoglycan is a cell wall component of all procaryotic organisms. There are only a few halophilic bacteria, such as Halobacterium halobium (326, 363) and Micrococcus morrhuae (177), which lack peptidoglycan. The composition and structure of the peptidoglycan seem to be rather constant among gram negatives, but there is great variation among gram positives. Numerous reviews have recently appeared on the structure and biosynthesis of the peptidoglycan (109, 117, 237, 279, 284, 333, 354, 381, 386, 403, 426). Since that time our knowledge about the diversity of the chemical structure of the peptidoglycan has increased. Moreover, a high percentage of all known genera and of many different species of bacteria has been examined, and it now seems worthwhile to focus on the correlation of peptidoglycan structure and taxonomy. Therefore, in the first part of this review a classification of the known peptidoglycan types based on their mode of cross-linkage will be suggested. In the second part, the distribution of the various peptidoglycan types within the bacterial kingdom will be shown and their taxonomic significance will be evaluated. The following are abbreviations and uncommon amino acids and amino sugars used throughout the paper. Abbreviations: ATCC, American Type Culture Collection, Rockville, Md., U.S.A.; CCM, Czechoslovak Collection of Microorganisms, J. E. Purkyne University, Brno, Czechoslovakia; Kiel, Streptokokkenzentrale im Institut fur Milchhygiene der Bundesanstalt fur Milchwirtschaft, Kiel, BRD; NCDO, National Collection of Dairy Organisms, Reading, England; NCIB, National Collection of Industrial Bacteria, Aberdeen, Scotland; NCPP, National Collection of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria, Harpenden, England; NCTC, National Collection of Type Cultures, London, England. Amino acids and amino sugars: GlcNH2 or G, glucosamine; Dab, diaminobutyric acid; m-Dpm, meso-diaminopimelic acid; Hsr, homoserine; HyDpm, hydroxydiaminopimelic acid; Hyg, threo-3-hydroxyglutamic acid; HyLys, hydroxylysine; Mur or M, muramic acid; Orn, ornithine. DIFFERENT PRIMARY STRUCTURES OF THE PEPTIDOGLYCAN General Structures The rigidity of the bacterial cell wall is due to a huge macromolecule (403) containing acylated amino sugars and three to six different amino acids. This polymer has been called by a variety of names: "basal structure" (425), "mucopeptide" (232), "glycopeptide" (365), "glycosaminopeptide" (326), "murein" (403), and "peptidoglycan" (369). We have usually prefered to use the name "murein," which was introduced by Weidel and Pelzer (403) in analogy to "protein." But there is now a general agreement that "peptidoglycan" is the better term, since it describes the chemical nature of this polymer most exactly. Peptidoglycan is a heteropolymer built out of glycan strands crosslinked through short peptides. The general features of the two peptidoglycan constituents, the glycan and the peptide moiety, will be separately discussed first. Glycan strands. The glycan moiety of the peptidoglycan is remarkably uniform. It is usually made up of alternating f,-1,4-linked N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetyl muramic acid residues (109, 111). The latter amino sugar, found only in bacteria and blue-green algae, was Downloaded from http://mmbr.asm.org/ on December 3, 2012 by guest
Page 1: CONTENT ALERTS implications. Peptid
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