Nucleotide Accumulation Induced in Staphylococcus aureus by Glycine

Abstract
High concentrations of glycine induce accumulation of four uridine nucleotides in S. aureus. Investigations of their structure suggest that these compounds are uridine diphosphate (UDP)-acetylmuramic acid, UDP-acetylmuramyl-gly-D-glu-L-lys, UDP-acetylmuramyl-L-ala-D-glu-L-lys and UDP-acetylmuramyl-gly-D-glu-L-lys-D-ala-D-ala. The mechanism by which glycine may induce uridine nucleotide accumulation and protoplast formation is discussed.