Mode of elongation of the glycerol phosphate polymer of membrane lipoteichoic acid of Streptococcus faecium ATCC 9790.

Specific degradation of membrane lipoteichoic acid of Streptococcus faecium ATCC 9790 by a phosphodiesterase from Aspergillus niger and by periodate oxidation has demonstrated that the enzymatic synthesis of the glycerol phosphate polymer of the molecule occurs by an external elongation system. Evidence of this type of mechanism was obtained with lipoteichoic acid synthesized in vivo or in vitro by differential radioisotope labeling techniques. The glycerol phosphate repeating units were transferred from phosphatidylglycerol and became linked through a phosphodiester bond to the glycerol phosphate unit of the chain farthest from or most external to the lipid end of the polymer.