Abstract
From cell extracts of the pseudomurein possessing methanogen Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum two putative pseudomurein precursors were isolated and characterized: (1) an undecaprenyl pyrophosphate activated disaccharide pentapeptide composed of N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid, alanine, glutamic acid and lysine in a molar ratio of 1:1:2:2:1 and (2) the corresponding undecaprenyl pyrophosphate activated tetrapeptide lacking one alanine residue. The isolation of these precursors show that the biosynthesis of the eubacterial murein and the methano-bacterial pseudomurein differs not only in the cytoplasmic step, as recently described, but also in the lipid stage.
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Abbreviations
- GlcNitol:
-
glucosaminitol
- NAcTalNUA:
-
N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid
- Udp:
-
undecaprenol
- TLC:
-
thin layer chromatography
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Hartmann, E., König, H. Isolation of lipid activated pseudomurein precursors from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum . Arch. Microbiol. 153, 444–447 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00248425
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00248425