Davie, Joseph M. (Indiana University, Bloomington), and Thomas D. Brock. Effect of teichoic acid on resistance to the membrane-lytic agent of Streptococcus zymogenes. J. Bacteriol. 92:1623-1631. 1966.-The resistance of Streptococcus zymogenes to its own lytic agent has been shown to be due to the production of a specific, inhibitory teichoic acid. A survey of streptococcal strains showed that o...

Guinea pigs sensitized with washed, Formalin-killed cells of Staphylococcus aureus, strains 263 or Copenhagen, were skin-tested with various antigens from these strains including washed viable and heat-killed whole cells, cell walls, the peptidoglycan complexes of the walls, teichoic acid, teichoic acid-peptidoglycan fragments, and peptidoglycan fragments. In nonsensitized control animals, all ...

Serotyping of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, the etiologic agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, is important for epidemiological studies and for the development of homologous vaccine cell preparations. The serology is based on the specific chemical structures of capsular polysaccharides (CPSs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigenic O-polysaccharide moieties (O-PSs), and knowledge of these struct...

We have developed a xylose-dependent expression system for tight and modulated expression of cloned genes in Bacillus subtilis. The expression system is contained on plasmid pSWEET for integration at the amyE locus of B. subtilis and incorporates components of the well-characterized, divergently transcribed xylose utilization operon. The system contains the xylose repressor encoded by xylR, the...

A mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H was isolated by virtue of its inability to agglutinate with antibodies against teichoic acid of S. aureus. Immunological studies revealed that the mutant, S. aureus T, possessed a new surface antigen in addition to having the antigenic determinant of the wild-type strain, the ribitol teichoic acid. The presence of this additional surface component rendered st...

The aim of this study was to characterize the Listeria monocytogenes biofilm and particularly the nature of the carbohydrates in the biofilm extracellular matrix and culture supernatant versus to cell wall carbohydrates. Listeria monocytogenes serotype 1/2a and 4b strains were able to form complex biofilms embedded in an extracellular matrix. The soluble carbohydrates from biofilm extracellular...

Native lipoteichoid acids from Staphylococcus aureus with D-alanine ester/phosphate molar ratios between 0.23 and 0.73 were tested for lipoteichoic acid carrier activity with poly(ribito1 phosphate) polymerase from Staphylococcus aureus H. Lipoteichoic acid with an alanine/phosphorus ratio greater than 0.7 was inactive. With decreasing substitution, lipoteichoic acid carrier activity appeared a...

Amino groups were introduced into Listeria monocytogenes teichoic acids by reductive amination, and the product was coupled to biotin. Teichoic acids were assayed by their binding to specific antibody adsorbed to a solid phase, followed by detection of the antigen-antibody complex by horseradish peroxidase-avidin. Less than 20 ng of teichoic acid was detectable.

D-[alpha-14C]]glucosyl phosphorylpolyprenol ([ 14C]Glc-P-prenol) was formed from UDP-D-[14C]glucose in each of the membrane systems obtained from Bacillus coagulans AHU 1631 and AHU 1634 and two Bacillus megaterium strains. Membranes of these B. coagulans strains, which possess beta-D-glucosyl branches on the repeating units in their major cell wall teichoic acids, were shown to catalyze the tr...

The molecular interactions between staphylococcal phages and host cell surfaces are poorly understood. Employing Staphylococcus aureus teichoic acid mutants, we demonstrate that wall teichoic acid (WTA), but not lipoteichoic acid, serves as a receptor for staphylococcal siphovirus and myovirus, while only the siphovirus requires glycosylated WTA.