Cadaverine is covalently linked to peptidoglycan in Selenomonas ruminantium

Abstract

Cadaverine was found to exist as a component of cell wall peptidoglycan of Selenomonas ruminantium, a strictly anaerobic bacterium. [14C]cadaverine added to the growth medium was incorporated into the cells, and about 70% of the total radioactivity incorporated was found in the peptidoglycan fraction. When the [14C]cadaverine-labeled peptidoglycan preparation was acid hydrolyzed, all of the 14C counts were recovered as cadaverine. The [14C]cadaverine-labeled peptidoglycan preparation was digested with lysozyme into three small fragments which were radioactive and were positive in ninhydrin reaction. One major spot, a compound of the fragments, was composed of alanine, glutamic acid, diaminopimelic acid, cadaverine, muramic acid, and glucosamine. One of the two amino groups of cadaverine was covalently linked to the peptidoglycan, and the other was free. The chemical composition of the peptidoglycan preparation of this strain was determined to be as follows: L-alanine-D-alanine-D-glutamic acid-meso-diaminopimelic acid-cadaverine-muramic acid-glucosamine (1.0:1.0:1.0:1.0:1.1:0.9:1.0).