The Anatomical Distribution of Murine Toxin in Spheroplasts of Pasteurella pestis

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Abstract
SUMMARY: In order to study the distribution of the murine toxin in Pasteurellapestis, whole organisms were converted to spheroplasts by treatment with penicillin or glycine in a sucrose medium. The spheroplasts were broken by osmotic lysis and homogenization. After centrifugation and washing, the membrane residues contained about 10% of the total activity of the spheroplast; the remainder of the toxic activity resided within the cytoplasm. Ribosomes were of low toxic activity. Magnesium ions selectively inhibited the destruction of these membranes by sonic oscillation; their treatment with trypsin resulted in the release of large amounts of non-toxic protein and peptides. Varying the temperature during spheroplast formation altered both the distribution of toxin between the anatomical components as well as the amount of toxin synthesized. Preliminary tests indicated that toxin obtained from the membrane and that found within the cytoplasm were identical.