Isolation and Study of the Chemical Structure of Low Molecular Weight Glycopeptides from Micrococcus Zysodeikticus Cell Walls*

A preparative method for the isolation of oligosaccharide peptides from lysozyme digests of Micrococcus Zysodeiklicus cell walls is described. The method involves chromatography on Dowex 1, gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-4 columns, and chromatography on Dowex 50. Four glycopeptides designated as GP-1, GP-la, GP-2, and GP-4 were isolated and their structures investigated by chemical and enzymatic techniques. GP-2 which comprises about 2% of the weight of the wall, is a disaccharide pentapeptide of the following structure, where Mur stands for muramyl.