1887

Abstract

SUMMARY:The cell wall of exponential phase (strain Duncan) loses its tensile strength in 2 hr. when the organisms are incubated at 25° in 1·2 -sucrose at pH 5·8 and ionic strength 0·3. The ‘protoplasts’ thus released from the mechanical protection of the cell wall are stable in 1·2 -sucrose but lyse in media of lower osmotic pressure. The mean internal osmotic pressure of the ‘protoplasts ’ is 20 atmospheres; they are permeable to glycerol but not to sucrose or NaCl. The rate of ‘protoplast’ release varies with the rate of growth of the organisms at harvesting. After osmotic explosion of ‘protoplasts’ released from slowly growing organisms the plasma membranes may be recovered as spherical shells which disintegrate and condense into small particles on washing, and 75 % of the weight of the cell walls may be recovered as hemispherical shells.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-16-1-184
1957-02-01
2024-04-26
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/16/1/mic-16-1-184.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-16-1-184&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Dixon M. 1934 Manometric Methods. Cambridge University Press;
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Greenberg R.A., Halvorson H.O. 1955; Studies on the autolytic substance produced by an aerobic spore forming bacterium. J. Bact. 69:45
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Kern R.A., Kingkade M.J., Kern S.F., Behrens O.K. 1951; Characterization of the action of lysozyme on Staphylococcus aureus and on Micrococcus lysodeikticus. . J. Bact. 61:171
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Meyer K., Palmer J.W., Thompson R., Khorazo D. 1936; On the mechanism of lysozyme action. J. biol. Chem. 113:479
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Mitchell P. 1949; A new technique for stirred aerated culture. Nature; Lond.: 164846
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Mitchell P., Moyle J. 1951; The glycerophosphoprotein complex envelope of Micrococcus pyogenes. . J. gen. Microbiol. 5:981
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Mitchell P., Moyle J. 1956a; Osmotic function and structure in bacteria. In Bacterial Anatomy, Symp. Soc. gen. Microbiol. 6150 Spooner E.T.C., Stocker B.A.D. ed. Cambridge University Press;
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Mitchell P., Moyle J. 1956b; Liberation and osmotic properties of the protoplasts of Micrococcus lysodeikticus and Sarcina lutea. . J. gen. Microbiol. 15:512
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Mitchell P., Moyle J. 1956C; The cytochrome system in the plasma-membrane of Staphylococcus aureus. . Biochem. J. 64:19 p
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Richmond M.H. 1957; Bacterial lysozyme. J. gen. Microbiol. 16:iv
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Stähelin II. 1953; über spontane sphaärische Transformation von Milzbrand-bazillen. Schweiz. Z. Path. 16:892
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Thorne C.B. 1956; Capsule formation and glutamyl polypeptide synthesis by Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis. . In Bacterial Anatomy. Sixth Symp. Soc. gen. MicroMol. p. 68 Spooner E.T.C., Stocker B.A.D. ed. Cambridge University Press;
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Webb M. 1948; The action of lysozyme ON heat killed Gram-positive microorganisms. J. gen. Microbiol. 2:260
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Webb M. 1951; The influence of magnesium on cell division. 6. The action of certain hydrolytic enzymes on the filamentous and chain forms of Grampositive rod-shaped organisms. J. gen. Microbiol. 5:496
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Weibull C. 1953; Isolation of protoplasts from Bacillus megaterium by controlled treatment with lysozyme. J. Bact. 66:688
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-16-1-184
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-16-1-184
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error