CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF AUTOPLAST MEMBRANE OF CLOSTRIDIUM SACCHAROPERBUTYLACETONICUM

Abstract

The chemical composition of bacterial protoplasmic membrane was studied using Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum ATCC 13564. The membrane was prepared from the autoplasts. The purity of prepared membrane was certified by chemical analysis for the existence of diaminopimelic acid due to contaminated cell wall debris and of adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) activity in its preparation, and also by electron microscopic observation for the existence of contaminated cell wall debris. The membrane composition was made up of lipid (26%), protein (65%), carbohydrate (2%) and nucleic acid (2%). The lipid consisted of neutral lipid (26%), glycolipid (26%) and phospholipid (48%). The main composition of phospholipid was phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The membrane contained 22 kinds of protei s of different molecular weights.