RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Snowden, Michael A. A1 Perkins, Harold R. A1 Wyke, Anne W. A1 Hayes, Michael V. A1 Ward, J. BarrieYR 1989 T1 Cross-linking and O-Acetylation of Newly Synthesized Peptidoglycan in Staphylococcus aureus H JF Microbiology, VO 135 IS 11 SP 3015 OP 3022 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-135-11-3015 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB Staphylococcus aureus H growing exponentially was labelled with N-acetyl[14C]glucosamine, which became incorporated into the peptidoglycan. The portion of peptidoglycan not linked to teichoic acid (60–75% of the whole) was degraded with Chalaropsis muramidase to yield disaccharide-peptide monomers and dimers, trimers and oligomers formed by biosynthetic cross-linking of the monomers. The degree of O-acetylation of these fragments was also examined. Pulse-chase experiments showed that the proportion of label initially in the monomer fraction immediately after the 1 min pulse declined rapidly during a 3 min chase, while the oligomer fraction (fragments greater than trimer) gained the radioactivity proportionately. The radioactivity of the dimer and trimer fractions remained virtually unchanged. At 4 min after the commencement of labelling (i.e. approx. one-tenth of a generation time) final values had been reached. The O-acetylation of all fragments had achieved final values even at 1 min, except for the monomer fraction, which showed an increase from 40% to 60% during the first 3 min of chase. Although O-acetylation was clearly a very rapid process, no O-acetylated peptidoglycan lipid-intermediates could be detected., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-135-11-3015