BIOCHEMISTRY OF THE ACTINOMYCETALES II. A COMPARISON OF THE CELL WALL COMPOSITION OF SPECIES OF THE GENERA Streptomyces AND Nocardia

In the previous paper of this series (Romano and Nickerson, 1956), it was reported that puri-fied cell wall preparations of Streptomyces fradiae were solubilized by lysozyme, indicating the presence of a mueopolysaccharide. In addition chemical evidence was advanced to support this thesis. It was shown that on acid hydrolysis of the cell walls, there was a rapid liberation of reducing sugars, the major portion of which was accounted for by a hexosamine. This work has now been ex-tended to include other members of the genus Streptomyces and representative members of the genus Nocardia. Some striking differences in the carbohydrate composition of the cell walls of these two genera have been found, and will be reported here. MATERIALS AND METHODS Organisms. Cell wall preparations of the follow-ing organisms were made: Streptomyces fradia