MYCOBACTERIAL CELL WALLS I

Abstract

Takeya, Kenji (Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan) and Kazuhito Hisatsune . Mycobacterial cell walls. I. Methods of preparation and treatment with various chemicals. J. Bacteriol. 85: 16–23. 1963.—Several methods of preparation of mycobacterial cell walls were examined, and the grinding method with glass powder, using Dry Ice, was found to give fairly good cell-wall preparations. “Paired fibrous structures” were clearly seen on the purified cell wall. The appearance of the cell wall as revealed by the electron microscope was not altered by digestion with trypsin, pronase, or pronase in 5% alcoholic solution, nor by treatment with 95% alcohol, acetone-alcohol mixture, or ether-alcohol mixture. By treatment with alcoholic KOH solution, the fibrous structure was removed. The remaining thin layer of the cell wall was tentatively designated the “basal layer” of the mycobacterial cell wall. The fibers appeared also to be removed by chloroform treatment. Nagarse digestion seemed to solubilize some constituents of the cell wall. The cell wall lost its shape and rigidity after lysozyme digestion.