Chemical Compositions of Cell Walls and Polysaccharide Fractions of Spirochetes

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Abstract
Cellular polysaccharide fractions of various members of the Spirochaetaceae were obtained by NH4OH extraction. The sugar composition of the preparations was complex and many kinds of sugars such as rhamnose, fucose, ribose, xylose, mannose, galactose and glucose were detected in all of the spirochetes tested. Of particular interest was the presence of 4-O-methylmannose as a constituent polysaccharide in Leptospira. This sugar was not detected in Spirochaeta, Borrelia and Treponema. The chemical compositions of cell wall fractions were also examined. 4-O-methylmannose was detected in the cell wall polysaccharides of Leptospira but not in cell walls from Spirochaeta, Borrelia and Treponema. The diaminopimelic acid present in cell wall peptidoglycans of Leptospira was meso-diaminopimelic acid (A2pm). The molar ratio of alanine, glutamic acid, A2pm, glycine, muramic acid, and glucosamine in leptospiral cell walls was .apprx. 2:1:1:1:1:1. The peptidoglycans of Spirochaeta, Borrelia and Treponema contained ornithine but not A2pm. Since 4-O-methylmannose and A2pm were found in the cell wall fractions of Leptospira but not in Spirochaeta, Borrelia or Treponema, the chemical compositions of the cell wall might become an important criterion for the chemotaxonomy of Spirochaetales.

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