Components of the wall and capsule of Bacillus megaterium NCIB 7581 Bishop, A. H. and Douglas, C. W. I. and Dorr, P. K. and White, P. J.,, 139, 2723-2730 (1993), doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-139-11-2723, publicationName = Microbiology Society, issn = 1350-0872, abstract= Walls of Bacillus megaterium NCIB 7581 consisted principally of peptidoglycan (55%, w/w) and a single acidic carbohydrate accessory polymer (about 30%, w/w), which was isolated from lysozyme-digests of the walls. Glucose and N-acetylglucosamine partly made up this polymer, but phosphate and uronic or aminouronic acids were absent from the polymer and the wall. Protein (about 10%, w/w) was present in the walls, even though incubation with trypsin was a step in their isolation. When released into solution, this protein gave a single band on gel-electrophoresis and could be digested by trypsin. The remainder of the material isolated as walls was poly β-hydroxybutyrate, which represented cytoplasmic contamination. Capsules were formed best by bacteria on solid media containing amino acids, at relatively low growth temperatures. The isolated capsular material was polypeptide., language=, type=