Teichoic Acid Is an Essential Polymer in Bacillus subtilis That Is Functionally Distinct from Teichuronic Acid

Abstract

Wall teichoic acids are anionic, phosphate-rich polymers linked to the peptidoglycan of gram-positive bacteria. In Bacillus subtilis, the predominant wall teichoic acid types are poly(glycerol phosphate) in strain 168 and poly(ribitol phosphate) in strain W23, and they are synthesized by the tag and tar gene products, respectively. Growing evidence suggests that wall teichoic acids are essential in B. subtilis; however, it is widely believed that teichoic acids are dispensable under phosphate-limiting conditions. In the work reported here, we carefully studied the dispensability of teichoic acid under phosphate-limiting conditions by constructing three new mutants. These strains, having precise deletions in tagB, tagF, and tarD, were dependent on xyloseinducible complementation from a distal locus (amyE) for growth. The tarD deletion interrupted poly(ribitol phosphate) synthesis in B. subtilis and represents a unique deletion of a tar gene. When teichoic acid biosynthetic proteins were depleted, the mutants showed a coccoid morphology and cell wall thickening. The new wall teichoic acid biogenesis mutants generated in this work and a previously reported tagD mutant were not viable under phosphate-limiting conditions in the absence of complementation. Cell wall analysis of B. subtilis grown under phosphate-limited conditions showed that teichoic acid contributed approximately one-third of the wall anionic content. These data suggest that wall teichoic acid has an essential function in B. subtilis that cannot be replaced by teichuronic acid.

Genetic Analysis of SCO2997 , Encoding a TagF Homologue, Indicates a Role for Wall Teichoic Acids in Sporulation of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

“…Apart from retarded growth, there was no obvious phenotype detectable in the vegetatively growing mycelium of EMK2997 or EMK2584 (see Fig S1A and B in the supplemental material), demonstrating that neither tagF nor SCO2584 is essential for viability. This is in contrast to the situation in B. subtilis, where tagF was reported to be essential (4). Maybe either one of the other FIG.…”

Identification of an Essential Gene ofListeria monocytogenesInvolved in Teichoic Acid Biogenesis

“…In addition, the fact that lmo2537 is an essential gene suggests that a minimal amount of TA expression must be achieved to allow cell shape maintenance and cell division (7) in infected host cells.…”

Studies of the Genetics, Function, and Kinetic Mechanism of TagE, the Wall Teichoic Acid Glycosyltransferase in Bacillus subtilis 168

“…Cell wall isolation and phosphate content determination were carried out as described previously (24). Teichoic acid was released from peptidoglycan by treatment with 1% acetic acid (95°C, 1 h).…”