Inhibition of wall autolysis of staphylococci by sodium polyanethole sulfonate "liquoid"

Abstract

Liquoid (polyanethole sulfonate) was neither capable of influencing the growth nor the viability of staphylococci. But liquoid induced a suppression of the activity of different autolytic wall systems of normally growing staphylococci, i.e., autolysins which participate in cross wall separation as well as autolysins which are responsible for cell wall turnover. Additionally, the lysostaphin-induced wall disintegration of staphylococci was inhibited by liquoid. However, no indication could be found for a direct inhibition of lytic wall enzymes by liquoid; rather an interaction of liquoid with the target structure for the autolytic wall enzymes, the cell wall itself, was postulated. On the basis of the experimental data with the teichoic acid- mutant S. aureus 52A5 the sites of wall teichoic acid were supposed to be an important target for the binding of liquoid to the staphylococcal cell wall.