| Abstrakt: |
Quantitative data on the amino acid composition of cell walls of five species of Actinomyceswere obtained by using a Beckman-Spinco amino acid analyzer. The major amino acids in A. israelii, A. naeslundii, A. eriksonii, and A. bovisspecies included alanine, glutamic acid, lysine, aspartic acid, and ornithine, as reported by previous workers, whereas A. propionicuscontained diaminopimelic acid. Other amino acids, including glycine, valine, leucine, proline, isoleucine, and threonine, were present in at least some of the walls in quantities equal to or slightly less than that of lysine. This raised the question of whether these may represent cross-links in the peptidoglycan or other cell wall structural components or whether the wall preparations contained nonpeptidoglycan material despite the use of electron microscopy as a standard of purity; further work is required to supply the answer. The quantitative data furnish relative molar concentrations of amino acids, which can provide definitive identification of some of the species and differentiation of Actinomycesfrom other members of the Actinomycetalesand from morphologically similar genera such as Corynebacteriumand Propionibacterium. |
