Conditional mutants of Staphylococcus aureus defective in cell wall precursor synthesis.

Temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of Staphylococcus aureus with defective cell wall biosynthesis have been differentiated from other ts mutants by their ability to grow at the restrictive temperature (43 C) in the presence of 1 m NaCl. Under all conditions they possess normal colonial and cellular morphology at the level of resolution of the light microscope and are, therefore, not protoplasts. However, differences between mutant and wild-type cells can be seen by scanning electron microscopy. Many of the mutants contained concentrations of nucleotide precursors of peptidoglycan synthesis in excess of those present in wild-type cells, at both 30 and 43 C. The types of peptidoglycan precursors accumulated by six of the mutants have been determined, and specific enzymatic defects in three of these have been identified.