The Presence of Acidic Polysaccharides and Muramic Acid Phosphate in the Walls of Corynebacterium poinsettiae and Corynebacterium betae

Wall preparations from Corynebacterium poinsettiae and Corynebacterium betae contained no teichoic acids but phosphate-free polysaccharides were present and were extractable with trichloroacetic acid at 35 °C. The substance from C. poinsettiae contained rhamnose, glucuronic acid, galactose, mannose and pyruvic acid (molecular proportions 1:2:1:0·33:0·35) and that from C. betae contained glucuronic acid, rhamnose, fucose and mannose (molecular proportions 1:2:0·5: 0·3). In the former polymer, pyruvic acid appeared to be linked to galactose which was in turn linked to rhamnose. The residual peptidoglycans of these species contained much phosphorus. Some of this was present as muramic acid phosphate.