PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION ON THE CARBOHYDRATE COMPOSITION OF CELL WALLS OF ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT GROUP A HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI

Abstract

Partially purified cell walls of Streptococcus pyogenes and of antibiotic-resistant variants were prepared by prolonged shaking with glass beads. The antibiotic-resistant variants used were chloramphenicol-, penicillin-, tetracyclineor streptomycin-resistant, and former three had lost their reactivity in group specific carbohydrate which is characteristic of the original group A cocci.
1. The cell walls of the penicillin-resistant variants was considerably less rigid.
2. The ratio of reducing substances to the total N was smaller in the specific polysaccharide deficient variants when compared to the original strains.
3. The ratio of rhamnose to hexosamine was significantly small in the group A polysaccharide-deficient and antibiotic-resistant strains, but this was not true for the chloramphenicol-resistant variant from strain T-12.
4. The sugar present in the cell wall materials was identified by paper chromatography. It was observed that rhamnose was substituted by galactose and/or mannose or arabinose in the specific C polysaccharide deficient, antibiotic-resistant strains with one exception.