Cell wall-lytic activity in (j&Awn&Wa /wsca

The soluble fraction of homogenates of synchronous CMorg#a /w^ca was tested for carbohydrate-lyzing activities. With isolated cell walls and /?-l,4-mannan or carboxymethyl cellulose as substrates, a sharp increase in activity occurred shortly before release of the daughter cells followed by a decline during release. The lytic activities were partially purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation and analyzed by gel filtration on a calibrated column. Apparent molecular weights were 27,000 for cell wall autolysin(s) and /?-l,4-mannanase, 36,000 for carboxymethyl cellulase and ^70,000 for another /?-l,4-mannanase. Incubation of isolated cell walls with an enzyme preparation purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation resulted in release of up to 70% of the cell wall carbohydrate as monosaccharide, predominantly mannose and glucose. The carbohydrate released in vivo into the culture medium shortly before and during liberation of the daughter cells consisted largely of polymeric material with rhamnose, fucose and mannose as main constituents. Upon poisoning the cells with NaNg or carbonyl cyanide ^-trifluoromethoxy-phenylhydrazone, however, a monosaccharide fraction consisting of mannose and glucose was predominant in the medium. It is suggested that the major products of cell wall lysis in vivo are monosaccharides which are rapidly taken up and metabolized by the developing daughter cells in an energy-dependent manner.