Cell wall teichoic acids of streptomycetes of the phenetic cluster 'Streptomyces fulvissimus'.

Structures of the anionic polymers of streptomycetes Streptomyces fulvissimus VKM Ac-994(T), Streptomyces longispororuber VKM Ac-1735(T), Streptomyces aureoveticillatus VKM Ac-48(T) and Streptomyces spectabilis INA 00606 belonging to the phenetic cluster 'S. fulvissimus' were investigated by chemical and NMR spectroscopic methods. A teichoic acid from the cell wall of S. spectabilis INA 00606 was studied in more detail, and this was shown to represent 1,3-poly(glycerol phosphate) substituted with glucosamine (alpha-D-GlcNAc) and L-glutamic acid (non-stoichiometric substitution). For the first time, glutamic acid is identified as an acyl substituent in teichoic acids of streptomycetes. The polymer chain is built of the following fragments: Cell walls of other streptomycetes of the phenocluster under study contain 1,3-poly(glycerol phosphates) with glucosamine as a glycosyl substituent at O-2 of the glycerol phosphate units and L-glutamic acid and lysine as O-2 acyl substituents. Not all amino sugar residues in the polymers of these strains are N-acetylated, and the content of the glucosamine and lysine residues in the polymers of different strains is not the same. Despite certain quantitative differences in the structures of the polymers, one may consider streptomycetes of the phenocluster 'S. fulvissimus' as closely related microorganisms, the details of the structures serving as additional criteria for the determination of the species status of a strain under study.