Composition of Cell Walls of Some Gram-Negative Cocci

SUMMARY: Cell walls isolated from six species of Neisseria contained 17 amino acids, 6.3--8.3% mucopeptide, and 11.4--30.0% lipid. Veillonella parvula cell walls were similar, differing principally in the presence of 24.5% mucopeptide. The mucopeptide of all seven Gram-negative cocci contained glucosamine, muramic acid, glutamic acid, alanine, glycine and DL-diaminopimelic acid as principal components; the mucopeptide from V. parvula cell walls also contained an unidentified ninhydrin-reacting component. The marked similarity of the cell walls of the Gram-negative cocci and those of Gram-negative bacilli indicates a closer relationship between these two groups than between the Gram-negative and Gram-positive cocci.