The occurrence of polyglycerophosphate as an antigenic component of various gram-positive bacterial species

A bacterial substance has been described which gives a precipitin reaction with certain antisera to Group A streptococci. The precipitating antigen is present in various Gram-positive bacteria, including most hemolytic streptococci, staphylococci, and aerobic sporulating bacilli. It is not present in any of the Gram-negative species examined or in pneumococci, clostridia, or corynebacteria. Analysis of purified preparations obtained from Group A streptococci indicates that the antigen is a simple polymer of glycerophosphate. The identification has been confirmed by immunochemical studies, including precipitin tests and specific inhibition with synthetic polyglycerophosphates. In addition, the infrared spectra of bacterial and synthetic polyglycerophosphate are shown to be closely similar. Immunochemical analysis suggests that the amount of polyglycerophosphate present in Group A streptococci and staphylococci is approximately 1 per cent of the dry weight of the cells. The cellular localization and function of the polyglycerophosphate have not been established.

BRAIN MITOCHONDRIA. II. THE RELATIONSHIP OF BRAIN MITOCHONDRIA TO GLYCOLYSIS

A mitochondrial fraction prepared from calf brain cortex possessed negligible glycolytic activity in the absence of the enzymes of the high speed supernatant fraction. When mitochondria were added to a supernatant system supplemented with optimal amounts of crystalline hexokinase, a 20 per cent stimulation of glycolysis was observed. The supernatant fraction produced minimal amounts of lactate in the absence of exogenous hexokinase; the addition of mitochondria doubled the lactate production. The substitution of glycolytic intermediates for glucose as substrates as well as the addition of exogenous glycolytic enzymes to the supernatant fraction or supernatant fraction plus mitochondria indicated that the mitochondria contributed mainly hexokinase and phosphofructokinase. By direct assay of all of the enzymes of the glycolytic pathway, only hexokinase and phosphofructokinase were shown to be concentrated in the mitochondrial fraction. All other glycolytic enzymes were found to exhibit higher total and specific activities in the supernatant fraction.

BIOSYNTHESIS OF SERINE IN ESCHERICHIA COLI AND SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM

Umbarger, H. E. (Long Island Biological Association, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), Merle A. Umbarger, and Patrick M. L. Siu. Biosynthesis of serine in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. J. Bacteriol. 85:1431-1439. 1963.-Evidence for the operation in extracts of Escherichia coli of a pathway from glucose to serine involving 3-phosphoglycerate, phosphohydroxypyruvate, and phosphoserine as intermediates was obtained by the technique of isotopic competition. The steps of the pathway were demonstrated in extracts of E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The first reaction was studied in the reverse of the biosynthetic direction by observing the disappearance of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide in the presence of phosphohydroxypyruvate. The enzyme catalyzing this reaction was missing in two E. coli mutants that required serine or glycine for growth and in a representative of one of two genetically distinct classes of S. typhimurium serine-glycine auxotrophs. The second reaction, the amination of phosphohydroxypyruvate, was also studied in the reverse of the biosynthetic direction using alpha-ketoglutarate as the amino acceptor in a transamination reaction with phosphoserine. The final step, the cleavage of phosphoserine, could not be catalyzed by extracts prepared from cells of S. typhimurium serine-glycine auxotrophs of the second genetic class. It has been concluded that these three reactions provide the only significant pathway to serine in these organisms.

PHOSPHATIDIC ACID SYNTHESIS IN YEAST

1. The presence of palmitoyl-CoA-l-glycerol 1-phosphate palmitoyltransferase (EC2.3.1.15) has been demonstrated in a particulate fraction of baker's yeast. 2. The enzyme has been characterized, and its activity studied as a function of pH and concentration of substrates. 3. Inhibition by thiol poisons and protection by acyl-CoA have been used to obtain information on the active site. 4. By various methods of supplying acyl radicals, the species ;palmitoyl-CoA' has been shown to be the true acyl donor to the transferase.

BRAIN MITOCHONDRIA. I. ISOLATION OF BOVINE BRAIN MITOCHONDRIA

Two methods of preparing a mitochondrial fraction from beef brain cortex are described. Data are presented on the rate of oxidation of substrates, P/O and respiratory control ratios, cholinesterase activity, and DNA content. Electron micrographs of isolated mitochondria and mitochondria in situ are shown. Comparisons are drawn between these preparations and mitochondria prepared in 0.25 M sucrose. The data on enzymic properties and contamination by non-mitochondrial material indicate that mitochondrial fractions which compare favorably with those from other tissues can be prepared from brain tissue.

FRUCTOSE 1, 6-DIPHOSPHATASE IN STRIATED MUSCLE

1. The occurrence of fructose diphosphatase in muscle tissue was investigated with reference to the question whether lactate can be converted into glycogen in muscle, as postulated by Meyerhof (1930), fructose diphosphatase being one of the enzymes required for this conversion. 2. Fructose diphosphatase was found in skeletal muscle of man, dog, cat, rat, mouse, rabbit, guinea pig, cattle, sheep, pigeon, fowl and frog. Under the test conditions between 5 and 60 mumoles of substrate were split/g. fresh wt./hr. at 22 degrees . 3. Like liver fructose diphosphatase, the muscle enzyme is inhibited by substrate concentrations above 0.1 mm, by AMP and by trace quantities of Zn(2+), Fe(2+) and Fe(3+); it is ;activated' by EDTA. Inhibitions by the above agents may account for the failure of previous authors to detect the enzyme. 4. Heart muscle of several vertebrate species and the smooth muscle of pigeon and fowl gizzard had no measurable activity. 5. The presence of fructose diphosphatase and the virtual absence of the enzyme systems converting pyruvate into phosphopyruvate means that lactate and pyruvate cannot be converted into glycogen in muscle, whereas the phosphorylated C(3) compounds can. The reconversion into carbohydrate of lactate (which readily diffuses out of muscle) occurs in liver and kidney only. The reconversion of phosphorylated C(3) intermediates (which cannot diffuse out of the tissue) can occur only within the muscle. 6. alpha-Glycerophosphate is probably the main intermediate requiring conversion into glycogen. The possible role of alpha-glycerophosphate formation in vertebrate muscle, already well established in insect muscle, is discussed.

RESPIRATION OF MITOCHONDRIA OF RED AND WHITE SKELETAL MUSCLE

Mitochondria of guinea pig red and white skeletal muscle were isolated in a medium containing 0.25 m sucrose, 1 mm ethylenediamine tetraacetate, and 1% fraction V bovine albumin. Oxidative phosphorylation with pyruvate-malate as substrate was tightly coupled in both types of mitochondria when oxygen uptake was measured over a 2- to 4-min period with a platinum electrode. The P/O ratios approached the theoretical value of 3. Oxygen consumption was also determined manometrically with the substrates 10 mm pyruvate—1 mm malate, 10 mm succinate, 6 mm reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH2), 20 mm dl-lactate, and 12–20 mm dl-α-glycerophosphate. White muscle mitochondria had a higher rate of oxygen consumption with α-glycerophosphate than with lactate, succinate, and NADH2. Those of red muscle were less active with α-glycerophosphate than with the other substrates. These results indicate that an α-glycerophosphate shuttle may couple the reactions generating NADH2 in the cytoplasm of white muscle with the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The properties of the red muscle mitochondria suggest that the direct oxidation of NADH2 may be more important in this tissue than the α-glycerophosphate shuttle.

THE CELLULAR ANTIGENS OF GROUP A STREPTOCOCCI; IMMUNOELECTROPHORETIC STUDIES OF THE C, M, T, PGP, E4, F, AND E ANTIGENS OF SEROTYPE 17 STREPTOCOCCI

The immunoelectrophoretic characteristics of the known cellular antigens of serotype 17, Group A streptococci have been presented. These include C, M, T, and polyglycerophosphate. In addition, three hitherto undescribed antigens of serotype 17 have been encountered. The F antigen occurs in most serotype 17 strains, has a faster electrophoretic mobility than M, appears in acid, distilled water, and other extracts of harvested cells, is released from the cells in large quantity into the culture medium during growth when the pH is maintained at 7.3 or over, is probably protein in nature, and may play a minor role in mouse virulence of serotype 17 strains. Its antibodies do not confer bactericidal power on human blood. The E antigen is serotype-specific and is closely associated with the M antigen. The suggestion is made here that E is a part of the M molecule, acquiring independent electrophoretic mobility when separated from the rest of the M molecule by acid hydrolysis and carrying an antigenic determinant serologically distinct from the determinant on the rest of the M molecule. E can be recognized only by immunoelectrophoresis. Its role, if any, in virulence has not been established. The third antigen, E(4), is a non-serotype-specific antigen found in most serological groups and types of hemolytic streptococci. It is serologically related to polyglycerophosphate, but its chemical nature has not been determined. It appears to be unrelated to virulence.

FORMATION AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF TRYPTOPHANASE AND TRYPTOPHAN SYNTHETASES IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

Newton, W. Austin (University of California, Berkeley), and Esmond E. Snell. Formation and interrelationships of tryptophanase and tryptophan synthetases in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 89:355-364. 1965.-In addition to the classical tryptophan-repressible tryptophan synthetase (TSase-tr), tryptophan auxotrophs of Escherichia coli contain another distinct tryptophan synthetase (TSase-ti) which is induced by tryptophan and is identical with tryptophanase (TPase). Escherichia coli B (wild type) forms only TSase-tr when the growth medium lacks tryptophan. When tryptophan is supplied, parallel induction of TPase and TSase-ti occurs while TSase-tr is repressed. Antiserum prepared against purified TPase neutralized TPase and TSase-ti equally, but not TSase-tr. TPase-negative strains of E. coli do not form TSase-ti. Unlike TSase-tr, TSase-ti is not readily detected by whole-cell assays. In the tryptophan auxotroph, E. coli B/1t7, a direct correlation exists between the effectiveness of 4-, 5-, and 6-methyl-tryptophan in inducing TPase and in promoting growth in the presence of indole. In a mutant of this organism, E. coli B/1t7-A, which is constitutive for TPase, 5-methyl-tryptophan and other substrates of TPase increased the rate of growth on limiting indole, a result ascribed to their ability to inhibit degradation of tryptophan and to supply the 3-carbon side chain for synthesis of tryptophan by TPase. This organism produced maximal amounts of TPase when inocula from log-phase cells grown in tryptophan-supplemented minimal medium were allowed to undergo two cell generations in an enriched broth medium.

THE METAL ION ACTIVATION OF THE ALKALINE BETA-GLYCEROPHOSPHATASE OF RABBIT SMALL INTESTINE

1. A fraction of intestinal epithelial cells from rabbit small intestine that contained nuclei and microvillus membranes served as a source of alkaline-beta-glycerophosphatase activity. 2. The greater part of the enzyme activity could be released from the subcellular particles by disintegration of the latter, followed by centrifugation at 40000g and butanol extraction of the resulting sediment. 3. Further purification of the enzyme was achieved by diethylaminoethylcellulose chromatography and by gel filtration. 4. Dialysis of the purified enzyme preparations against EDTA gave an essentially inactive enzyme. High activity could be restored by adding Zn(2+)+Mg(2+), Zn(2+)+Co(2+), Mg(2+)+Co(2+) or Co(2+) alone to these inactive preparations. Neither Zn(2+) nor Mg(2+) added singly to the assay system restored more than a small part of the enzyme activity. 5. The optimum Zn(2+) concentration was about 0.2-1m-equiv./l., whereas Mg(2+) and Co(2+) had optimum concentrations about 30-60m-equiv./l. 6. If added in excess of the optimum concentration, Zn(2+) strongly inhibited the enzyme under all conditions tested. 7. In the presence of an optimum concentration of Co(2+) (33m-equiv./l.) in tris buffer at the optimum pH (8.8 at 37 degrees ), K(m) for the beta-glycerophosphatase was 0.3mm.