Effect of culture pH on the D-alanine ester content of lipoteichoic acid in Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

The lipoteichoic acid in Staphylococcus aureus growing at high pH values contained very little alanine ester, showing that high overall levels of substitution were not essential for growth. The low alanine content could have resulted from a progressive loss due to base-catalyzed hydrolysis of the labile ester linkages.