Structural Identity of Teichoic Acids from Actinomycete Species Streptomyces hygroscopicus

E. M. Tul'skaya,¹ A. S. Shashkov,² L. I. Evtushenko,³ O. V. Bueva,³ and I. B. Naumova^1,4

¹School of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119899 Russia; fax: (7-095) 939-43-09.

²Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Leninskii pr. 47, Moscow, 117913 Russia; fax: (7-095) 135-53-28.

³Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142292 Russia; fax: (7-095) 923-36-02.

⁴To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Submitted September 24, 1996; revision submitted November 25, 1996.

Cell walls of three strains of Streptomyces hygroscopicus previously described as S. hygroscopicus ISP 5578, S. endus ISP 5187, and S. violaceusniger ISP 5563 (= NRRL 1476) contain similar teichoic acids. In each strain, the cell walls contained three structural types of teichoic acids. The major type was a 1,3-poly(glycerophosphate) partially substituted at the glycerol C-2 with alpha-glucosaminyl and alpha-N-acetylglucosaminyl residues. The chains also contained O-acetyl groups. Two minor teichoic acids were unsubstituted 1,3-poly(glycerophosphate) and 2,3-poly(glycerophosphate). The structures were determined by chemical methods and NMR spectroscopy. The possibility to use structural features of teichoic acids as species-specific traits of streptomycetes is discussed.

KEY WORDS: teichoic acids, Streptomyces, NMR spectroscopy, cell wall.

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