Abstract
Thermoanaerobacterium thermosulfurigenes EM1 has a gram-positive type cell wall completely covered by a surface layer (S-layer) with hexagonal lattice symmetry. The components of the cell envelope were isolated, and the S-layer protein was purified and characterized. S-layer monomers assembled in vitro into sheets with the same hexagonal symmetry as in vivo. Monosaccharide analysis revealed that the S-layer is associated with fucose, rhamnose, mannosamine, glucosamine, galactose, and glucose. The N-terminal 31 amino acid residues of the S-layer protein showed significant similarity to SLH (S-layer homology) domains found in S-layer proteins of different bacteria and in the exocellular enzymes pullulanase, polygalacturonate hydrolase, and xylanase of T. thermosulfurigenes EM1. The xylanase from T. thermosulfurigenes EM1 was copurified with the S-layer protein during isolation of cell wall components. Since SLH domains of some structural proteins have been shown to anchor these proteins noncovalently to the cell envelope, we propose a common anchoring mechanism for the S-layer protein and exocellular enzymes via their SLH domains in the peptidoglycan-containing layer of T. thermosulfurigenes EM1.
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Received: 23 October 1998 / Accepted: 21 December 1998
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Brechtel, E., Matuschek, M., Hellberg, A. et al. Cell wall of Thermoanaerobacterium thermosulfurigenes EM1: isolation of its components and attachment of the xylanase XynA. Arch Microbiol 171, 159–165 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002030050694
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002030050694