The incorporation of amino acids into the cell-wall mucopeptide of staphylococci and the effect of antibiotics on the process

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Abstract
Staphylococci incubated in the presence of C "-labelled glycine, glutamate, alanine or lysine, either singly or together, incorporate these almost exclusively into the cell-wall mucopeptide. This incorporation can be entirely accounted for by the increase in mass of cell-wall mucopeptide. This process is resistant to chloramphenicol. The amino acids can be replaced by glucose and ammonium chloride with the strain of Staphylococcus aureus used. The synthesis of cell-wall mucopeptide is inhibited by penicillin and bacitracin, neither of which inhibits protein synthesis. Evidence suggests that the small amount of mucopeptide synthesized in the presence of penicillin has an abnormal composition.