Anionic Polymers in Cell Walls of Gram-Positive Bacteria

I. B. Naumova^1,2 and A. S. Shashkov³

¹School of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119899 Russia; fax: (095) 939-4308.

²To whom correspondence should be addressed.

³Zelinskii Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr. 47, Moscow, 117913 Russia; fax: (095) 135-5328.

Submitted April 21, 1997.

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Information on the prevalence, compositions, and structures of anionic carbohydrate-containing polymers of cell walls of Gram-positive bacteria is summarized. The data suggest that these polymers are important for normal functioning of bacterial cells and require further studies. Structural data on teichoic acids found in the literature published over the last few years are discussed. This is a very diverse class of polymers whose structure-specific pathways of degradation were studied and NMR spectra were examined. Unique comprehensive tables of ¹³C-NMR spectroscopic data (mainly obtained by the authors) on these polymers are given in the Appendix. Other tables summarize data on teichuronic acids, sugar-phosphate polymers, acid polysaccharides, and structural variants of bonds between acid polysaccharides and peptidoglycans known from the literature. Functions of anionic polymers and their possible chemotaxonomic applications are discussed.

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KEY WORDS: teichoic acid, teichuronic acid, acid polysaccharide, sugar-phosphate polymer, bacterial cell wall.

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