Primary structure of the wall peptidoglycan of leprosy-derived corynebacteria.

The cell walls isolated from axenically grown leprosy-derived corynebacteria were submitted to various chemical and enzymatic degradations. The glycan strands of the wall peptidoglycan are essentially composed of N-acetylglycosaminyl-N-acetylmuramic acid disaccharide units. Small amounts of N-acetylglycosaminyl-N-glycolylmuramic acid (less than 10%) were also detected. The muramic acid residues of adjacent glycan strands are substituted by amidated tetrapeptide units which, in turn, are cross-linked through direct linkages extending between the C-terminal D-alanine residue of one tetrapeptide and the mesodiaminopimelic acid residue of another tetrapeptide. Such a structure is very similar to that of the wall peptidoglycan found in the taxonomically related microorganisms of the Corynebacterium, Mycobacterium, and Nocardia groups.