Chemical composition of Eubacterium nodatum cell wall peptidoglycan.

The structure of Eubacterium nodatum cell wall peptidoglycan was investigated. The peptide subunit of E. nodatum peptidoglycan has the following structure: L-Ala-D-Glu (Gly)-L-Orn-D-Ala. The carboxyl group of alanine occupying position 4 is attached to the delta-amino group of ornithine of an other subunit by the cross-linking bridge L-Ala-L-Ala-L-Orn. All glycine molecules are connected with the alpha-carboxyl group of glutamic acid with the ratio being 0.5-1. The hydrolysis of E. nodatum peptidoglycan by the S. albus G enzyme proceeds primarily due to the activity of alanyl-alanine endopeptidase, ornithyl-ornithine endopeptidase, ornithyl-alanine endopeptidase, N-acetyl-muramyl-alanine amidase, N-acetylmuramidase and N-acetylglucosaminidase.