The intracellular reserve polysaccharide of Clostridium pasteurianum.

An amylopectinlike polysaccharide (granulose) was the only glucan produced in significant quantities by six wild-type strains of Clostridium pasteurianum grown in glucose minimal medium. The intracellular polysaccharide granules laid down before sporulation contained only this amylopectin. No intracellular dextran was discovered in these wild-type strains, nor in a granulose-negative mutant strain of C. pasteurianum possessing an ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase (EC2.7.7.27) but lacking a granulose synthase (i.e. ADP glucose-alpha-1,4-glucan glucosyl transferase, EC2.4.1.21). Furthermore, methylation analysis demonstrated that (1 leads to 6) linked alpha-D-glucose units accounted for less than 2% of the entire glucose content of these organisms.