Isolation of Hydrolytic Products of a Glycerophospho-compound from Micrococcus pyogenes

Abstract

SUMMARY:The ribonucleic acid fraction of Micrococcus pyogenes var. aureus (strain Duncan), separated by the method of Schmidt & Thannhauser (1945), contains organic phosphate in excess of that which can be accounted for by a polynucleotide nucleic acid structure. This 'excess phosphate' can be separated from the other phospho-compounds after fractional extraction of M . pyogenes in dilute acid or in dilute alkali. Four polyolphosphate compounds occur in the extracts. The main components are a-and /3-glycerophosphate, the two other polyolphosphates (giving water-insoluble barium salts ; separable chromatographically) occurring in smaller amount. The yields of glycerophosphate show that at least 75 yo of the 'excess phosphate ' is present in an easily hydrolysed glycerophospho-compound which may also be the origin of the unidentified polyolphosphates. The glycerophospho-compound of M . pyogenes accounts for more than one-quarter of the total organic phosphate of the organism. The presence of 'excess phosphate' in a number of Gram-positive organisms suggests that a glycerophospho-compound similar to that of M. pyogenes may be of general occurrence in Gram-positive bacteria and in yeasts.

The incorporation of phosphorus into fractions of Escherichia coli made by centrifuging and by chemical means

“…There is good evidence that two established contaminants of the RNA phosphorus fraction (Fig. 2), metaphosphate (Juni, Kamen, Reiner & Spiegelman, 1948) and polyglycerophosphate (Mitchell & Moyle, 1951a), are absent from E. coli (Duguid, Smith & Wilkinson, 1954;Mitchell & Moyle, 1954).…”

The Occurrence of Polyglycerophosphate as an Antigenic Component of Various Gram-Positive Bacterial Species

“…The occurrence of glycerophosphate as a significant component of certain bacterial species was demonstrated in chemical studies by Mitchell and Moyle (7). Their investigations were initiated by the discovery that lipide-free extracts of staphylococci contained a significant amount of phosphorus over and above that which could be accounted for by the nucleic acid content.…”

Phosphorus Metabolism of Mycobacteria: Determination of Phosphorus Compounds in some Mycobacteria

“…did not liberate it as orthophosphate, nor did its amount vary proportionately to the amount of polyphosphate present. It may be present in the extracts as glycerophosphoric acid (Mitchell & Moyle, 1951). The phosphorus left in the residues after these extractions was assumed to be ' phosphoprotein ' (Schneider, 1945).…”