Choline-containing bacteriophage receptors in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Abstract

Choline-containing teichoic acid seems to be essential for the adsorption of bacteriophage Dp-1 to pneumococci. This conclusion is based on the following observations: In contrast to pneumococci grown in choline-containing medium, cells grown in medium pontaining ethanolamine or other submethylated aminoalcohols instead of choline were found to be resistant to infection by Dp-1. Live choline-grown bacteria and heator UV-inactivated cells and purified cell walls prepared from these cells were capable of adsorbing phage Dp-1; ethanolaminegrown pneumococci or cell wall preparations were unable to do so. Adsorption of Dp-1 to choline-containing cell walls was competitively inhibited by phosphorylcholine and by several choline-containing soluble cell surface components, such as the Forssman antigen and the teichoic acid-glycan complexes formed by autolytic cell wall degradation. Cell walls prepared from pneumococci grown in ethanolamine or phosphorylethanolamine were inactive. Electron microscopic studies with pneumococci that had segments of choline-containing cell wall material amid ethanolamine-containing regions indicated that the Dp-1 phage particles adsorbed exclusively to the choline-containing surface areas. We suggest that the choline residues of the pneumococcal teichoic acid are essential components of the Dp-1 phage receptors in this bacterium.The first step in bacteriophage infection is the adsorption of phage particles to surface receptors of the host cells. A wide variety of bacterial structures and compounds can serve as receptors, e.g., capsules, pili, flagella, peptidoglycan, teichoic acid, etc. (for reviews, see references 10, 11, and 15). Much information is available about phage receptors in Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis (9, 23, 24).The teichoic acid-peptidoglycan complexes of B. subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes (5, 6, 22) were found to have receptors for several bacteriophages. A detailed study of the role of teichoic acid in the adsorption of bacteriophage SP5O in B. subtilis was carried out recently with cells grown under conditions of phosphate limitation (1,2). This approach also demonstrated the usefulness of bacteriophage as a marker for cell wall growth.In the present paper we describe experiments that indicate the importance of choline residues of the teichoic acid of pneumococci for the adsorption of the pneumococcal phage Dp-1. Electron microscopic studies of phage adsorption sites allowed us to confirm and extend the model for the mode of cell wall growth and segregation previously suggested for Streptococcus pneumoniae by different methodologies (3). MATERIALS AND METHODS Microorganisms. Streptococcus pneumoniae R6, a derivative of the Rockefeller University Laboratory strain R36A, was used as the wild-type strain. Bacteria with teichoic acids containing the various amino alcohol residues (such as choline, ethanolamine [EA], Nmonomethylaminoethanolamine [MEA], or N-dimethylaminoethanolamine [DEA]) were produced by growth for...

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“…3). Interestingly, choline is required not only for the activity of lytic enzymes of the pneumophage but also for Dp‐1 binding to the cell wall receptors [164], suggesting the presence in the phage tail of a protein that also binds to the choline‐TA. Analysis of the Dp‐1 genome has revealed the presence of an orf coding for such a protein.…”

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“…Many virulence factors are cell surface proteins that play a role in the interaction with host cells [ 49 ]. Other pneumococcal cell surface components such as choline-containing teichoic acid, are components of the Dp-1 phage receptors [ 50 ].…”

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