Composition of peptidoglycans in Bacteroidaceae: determination and distribution of lanthionine

Abstract

Peptidoglycans of organisms belonging to the strictly anaerobic family Bacteroidaceae were investigated for the presence of lanthionine. Different procedures for the quantitation of lanthionine were compared. Performic acid and peroxide oxidation procedures on 35S-labeled peptidoglycan from Fusobacterium nucleatum Fev1 resulted in low yields of cysteic acid (42 and 60%, respectively) and many other additional unidentified oxidation products. Lanthionine was, however, recovered in high yield (89% or more) from acid hydrolysates of unoxidized peptidoglycans. Lanthionine was found exclusively in some species of Fusobacterium, in particular F. nucleatum, F. necrophorum, F. russi, and F. gonidiaformans, for which lanthionine may be ascribed a function as a taxonomic marker. Peptidoglycans of these bacteria are thus proposed to belong to a new chemotype, assigned A1 delta. One strain of Fusobacterium, F. mortiferum VPI 0473 contained both lanthionine and diaminopimelic acid in about equal proportions. Species of F.plauti had a composition atypic of gram-negative cells. Chemotypic differences were also indicated among the species of Bacteroides investigated. Thus, some species contained lysine and not diaminopimelic acid as the major dibasic amino acid (e.g., F. asaccharolyticus). It is concluded that peptidoglycans of gram-negative organisms constitute a somewhat more heterogeneous group than hitherto assumed.

The distribution and frequency of Fusobacterium nucleatum subspecies in the human oral cavity

“…The species appears to be homogeneous in that all strains produce major levels of butyric and acetic acids as end products of metabolism, and carbohydrates are not utilized directly as energy sources (5). Their DNA base compositions range between 25-28 mol % G + C (18), and all strains so far tested contained only straight-chain and monounsaturated long chain fatty acids (1,9) and possess a peptidoglycan structure based on meso-lanthionine (10,15,22). Despite this apparent homogeneity, we reported recently the presence of 3 groups, designated Fn-1, Fn-2 and Fn-3 among human, oral isolates of F. nueleatum (6).…”

Outer membrane proteins as major antigens of Fusobacterium nucleatum

“…In some experiments Leptotrichia buccalis ATCC 19616 and Lll (own isolate), Bacteroides melaninogenicus VPI 4196, Eubacterium plautii ( Fusobacterium plautii ) ATCC 29863 = VPI 0310 and VPI 4145, and E. saburreum L32 (own isolate) were included. The growth conditions were as previously described [15] and the bacteria were harvested in the late logarithmic phase of growth (24-48 h). Until used, the cells were stored as a paste at -20°C after being washed twice with phosphate buffered saline pH 7.2 (10 mM NaH2PO4/Na2HPO4, 0.9% NaC1; PBS).…”

Oligosaccharides obtained by partial hydrolysis of lipopolysaccharide from Fusobacterium nucleatum F1

“…The values obtained by the GLC analyses for amino sugars varied in repeated analyses indicating that, in our hands, the reproducibility of the method was inadequate. Figures for glucosamine are, therefore, not given, except for two samples examined on an amino acid analyzer (Vasstrand et al 1982). KDO was detected in the LPS I Peak II and the LPS II Peak III materials.…”