THE EFFECT OF PENICILLIN ON THE STRUCTURE OF STAPHYLOCOCCAL CELL WALLS

1959 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 641-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. E. Murray ◽  
W. H. Francombe ◽  
B. H. Mayall

Cultures of sensitive stains of Staphylococcus aureus were fixed with osmium tetroxide after 1–5 hours' exposure to various does of pencillin and were embedded in methacrylate for sectioning and electron microscopy. They were compared with untreated, control cultures. The contrast of the cell wall material was untreated, control cultures. The contrast of the cell wall material was increased, by cutting the section of lanthanum nitrate.The cells increased in size and the surrounding cell wall was thinner than normal. The main lesions appeared in the developing cell wall septa, which showed a loss in density and gross irregularity of shape. Some questionable inclusions were seen in the cytoplasm. Lysis was prevented in a medium containing 0.3 M sucrose and the stable spheroplasts retained a recognizable cell wall after 24 hours' exposure to penicillin. However, the septa could not be demonstrated in the cells treated in sucrose medium.Two resistant strains were exposed to penicillin. In one, the cells showed no morphological effects; in the other, there was temporary damage to the cell septa with complete recovery.The observations support the hypothesis that penicillin interferes with the synthesis of a cell wall component and indicate that the main point of cell wall synthesis is at the site of septum formation.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 513
Author(s):  
Ewen Silvester ◽  
Annaleise R. Klein ◽  
Kerry L. Whitworth ◽  
Ljiljana Puskar ◽  
Mark J. Tobin

Environmental contextSphagnum moss is a widespread species in peatlands globally and responsible for a large fraction of carbon storage in these systems. We used synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy to characterise the acid-base properties of Sphagnum moss and the conditions under which calcium uptake can occur (essential for plant tissue integrity). The work allows a chemical model for Sphagnum distribution in the landscape to be proposed. AbstractSphagnum is one the major moss types responsible for the deposition of organic soils in peatland systems. The cell walls of this moss have a high proportion of carboxylated polysaccharides (polygalacturonic acids), which act as ion exchangers and are likely to be important for the structural integrity of the cell walls. We used synchrotron light source infrared microspectroscopy to characterise the acid-base and calcium complexation properties of the cell walls of Sphagnum cristatum stems, using freshly sectioned tissue confined in a flowing liquid cell with both normal water and D2O media. The Fourier transform infrared spectra of acid and base forms are consistent with those expected for protonated and deprotonated aliphatic carboxylic acids (such as uronic acids). Spectral deconvolution shows that the dominant aliphatic carboxylic groups in this material behave as a monoprotic acid (pKa=4.97–6.04). The cell wall material shows a high affinity for calcium, with a binding constant (K) in the range 103.9–104.7 (1:1 complex). The chemical complexation model developed here allows for the prediction of the chemical environment (e.g. pH, ionic content) under which Ca2+ uptake can occur, and provides an improved understanding for the observed distribution of Sphagnum in the landscape.


Weed Science ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter E. Splittstoesser

Barley (Hordeum vulgareL. var. Trail) root growth was inhibited at lower concentrations of 1-(2-methylcyclohexyl)-3-phenylurea (siduron) than was shoot growth. The influence of siduron upon root metabolism was assessed with excised roots grown in 0 or 5 ppm siduron. More glucose-U-14C and leucine-U-14C were degraded to CO2and less were incorporated into cell wall material and protein by roots grown in siduron. However, roots grown in siduron incorporated more adenine-8-14C into nucleic acids and degraded less adenine to CO2than roots grown in water. It was suggested that siduron disrupted the normal nucleic acid metabolism of barley roots which was necessary for protein and cell wall synthesis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Yanqing Lu ◽  
Yanjin Lin ◽  
Xinkun Lu

Granulation is a physiological disorder of juice sacs in citrus fruits, which develops through secondary cell wall formation. However, the synergistic changes in the cytoplasm of juice sac cells remain largely unknown. This study investigated the dynamic ultrastructure of juice sacs of “Guanxi” pummelo fruits by transmission electron microscopy and determined their cell wall material, soluble sugar, and organic acid contents. The results showed that lignin and hemicellulose are accumulated in juice sacs isolated from dorsal vascular bundles, while lignin and cellulose contribute to the granulation of juice sacs isolated from septal vascular bundles. The significant differences in lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose contents between the two types of juice sacs began to be observed at 30 days of storage. Fructose levels were elevated in juice sacs isolated from the dorsal vascular bundles from 10 to 60 days. Sucrose contents significantly decreased in juice sacs isolated from the septal vascular bundles from 30 to 60 days. Meanwhile glucose, citric acid, and malic acid contents exhibited no apparent changes in both types of juice sacs. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the ultrastructure of both types of juice sacs, it was clearly found that plasma membrane ruptures induce cell wall material synthesis in intracellular spaces; however, cell wall substance contents did not significantly increase until the number of mitochondria sharply increased. In particular, sucrose contents began to decrease significantly just after the mitochondria amount largely increased in juice sacs isolated from the septal vascular bundles, indicating that mitochondria play a key role in regulating carbon source sugar partitioning for cell wall component synthesis.


The cell walls of members of the Vaucheriaceae and Saprolegniaceae have been examined by X-ray analysis and electron microscopy, and their composition determined by hydrolysis and paper partition chromatography of the hydrolysates. Both differences and similarities between the members of these two species examined are found to supplement the comparative morphological and physiological information at present available. Saprolegnia , Achlya , Brevilegnia and Dictyuchus among the Saprolegniaceae possess hot-water soluble polysaccharides containing glucose residues only. This polysaccharide is not crystallographically identical with the polysaccharide found in Vaucheria sessilis with a similar solubility. The members of the Saprolegniaceae contain large amounts of alkali-soluble polysaccharides in contrast with the negligible amount found in V. sessilis . These polysaccharides are only weakly crystalline, but the indications are that the same polysaccharides may occur through­out the Saprolegniaceae. The alkali-insoluble wall material of Vaucheria species consists of highly crystalline native cellulose with large, apparently randomly arranged, microfibrils. The hydrolysate of this material contains ribose, xylose and arabinose in addition to glucose, presumably representing strongly bound pentosans. Native cellulose also occurs in the Saprolegniaceae but only in small proportion. The bulk of the alkali-insoluble fraction in the walls of these fungi appears amorphous in the electron microscope and is only weakly crystalline. It consists of one or m ore substances containing glucose, mannose, ribose and possibly other sugars together with traces of glucosamine. These substances presumably cover the cellulose microfibrils. The total quantity of non-cellulosic polysaccharide in the Saprolegniaceae approaches 85% of the total wall weight in contrast with the situation in Vaucheria where the cellulose alone approaches 90% of the total cell wall. Dichotomosiphon is unique among the organism s studied in this paper, in possessing a cell wall entirely soluble in alkali and composed of approximately equal quantities of glucose and xylose. The crystalline component is aβ-1,3-linked xylan, as already reported for some of the Siphonales (closely related algae) by Frei & Preston.


1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 ◽  
pp. 71-71
Author(s):  
H. van Laar ◽  
S. Tamminga ◽  
B.A. Williams ◽  
B. Diekema ◽  
W. Burgers ◽  
...  

When analysing the fermentative breakdown of cell wall material in plants it is important to realize that it is not homogeneous. The cell walls are composed of different cell wall types which can differ in both their breakdown characteristics and composition. In this experiment in vitro cumulative gas production (Theodorou et al., 1994) was measured to study breakdown characteristics of cell walls from hulls and endosperm of soya beans.


2000 ◽  
Vol 66 (9) ◽  
pp. 3807-3813 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. S. Lee ◽  
J. K. Ha ◽  
K.-J. Cheng

ABSTRACT To assess the relative contributions of microbial groups (bacteria, protozoa, and fungi) in rumen fluids to the overall process of plant cell wall digestion in the rumen, representatives of these groups were selected by physical and chemical treatments of whole rumen fluid and used to construct an artificial rumen ecosystem. Physical treatments involved homogenization, centrifugation, filtration, and heat sterilization. Chemical treatments involved the addition of antibiotics and various chemicals to rumen fluid. To evaluate the potential activity and relative contribution to degradation of cell walls by specific microbial groups, the following fractions were prepared: a positive system (whole ruminal fluid), a bacterial (B) system, a protozoal (P) system, a fungal (F) system, and a negative system (cell-free rumen fluid). To assess the interactions between specific microbial fractions, mixed cultures (B+P, B+F, and P+F systems) were also assigned. Patterns of degradation due to the various treatments resulted in three distinct groups of data based on the degradation rate of cell wall material and on cell wall-degrading enzyme activities. The order of degradation was as follows: positive and F systems > B system > negative and P systems. Therefore, fungal activity was responsible for most of the cell wall degradation. Cell wall degradation by the anaerobic bacterial fraction was significantly less than by the fungal fraction, and the protozoal fraction failed to grow under the conditions used. In general, in the mixed culture systems the coculture systems demonstrated a decrease in cellulolysis compared with that of the monoculture systems. When one microbial fraction was associated with another microbial fraction, two types of results were obtained. The protozoal fraction inhibited cellulolysis of cell wall material by both the bacterial and the fungal fractions, while in the coculture between the bacterial fraction and the fungal fraction a synergistic interaction was detected.


2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-280
Author(s):  
William B. SANDERS ◽  
Asunción DE LOS RÍOS

AbstractA recent field study indicated that thalli of the beard lichen Ramalina usnea undergo diffuse (“intercalary”) growth throughout their length. We examined thallus sections with TEM to better understand how the highly thickened cell walls of the prosoplectenchymatous cortex behave under conditions of continued expansion. Cell protoplasts were surrounded by massive accumulations of structured electron-dense wall layers interspersed with amorphous, electron-transparent substances, visible as concentric rings in transverse section. Nearest the protoplast, electron-dense wall layers were distinct and more or less alternated with irregular deposits of electron-transparent material. With increasing distance from the protoplast, the electron-dense wall layers were increasingly disrupted and intermixed among the electron-transparent materials. New cell branches grew through the accumulated wall materials, interrupting the layers they penetrated while producing their own concentric wall layers. The differing amounts of cell wall material accumulated was further indication of the different relative ages of such neighbouring cells. These observations suggest that cell walls are disrupted by diffuse tissue expansion and continually replaced by new walls and wall materials deposited to their interior at the interface with the protoplast. This pattern of development, documented previously in R. menziesii and U. longissima, suggests that component cells of lichen prosoplectenchyma behave quite differently from those of diffusely expanding filaments studied in non-lichen-forming fungi, where a single, discrete cell wall is maintained throughout growth.


1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (9) ◽  
pp. 1702-1708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan J. Blackman ◽  
Edward C. Yeung

The root cap of Epidendrum ibaguense has a rounded profile with a root cap junction present between the cap and meristem. A distinct columella region is lacking. Mitotic figures are infrequent in the root cap initial cells. The root cap initials and their immediate derivatives show few dictyosomes, little endoplasmic reticulum, plastids lacking starch, and few vacuoles. As the cells age they increase in size and show increasing vacuolation. Plastids increase by division and accumulate large starch grains. Throughout the root cap, amyloplasts maintain a random orientation in the cell. Endoplasmic reticulum also becomes more abundant as the cells age. In older cells, hypertrophied dictyosomes are evident and cell wall material begins accumulating between the distal cell wall and the plasmalemma. Wall thickening progresses with age though radial walls remain largely unthickened. Vacuolation progresses and is followed by complete senescence leaving only the cell walls.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 2142-2149 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Sneh ◽  
M. Ichielevich-Auster ◽  
I. Shomer

The hypovirulent (HV) isolate (No. 521) densely colonized the outer surface of the hypocotyls and roots of radish and cotton seedlings but did not penetrate into the cortical parenchyma, whereas the virulent (V) isolate (No. 82) penetrated the root and hypocotyl tissues (except for the xylem vessels) to the center of the pith parenchyma. The HV isolate did not cause any degradation of the cell wall material except for the cuticular layer that had disappeared in the regions of close contact between the hyphae and the epidermal outer surface. During the prepenetration stages of the V isolate, the cell walls of the seedlings underwent a significant, visible degradation. The cuticle between the hyphae and the epidermis was detached and degraded. The HV isolate seems to densely cover the outer surface of the seedlings, and it may occupy the possible infection sites, rendering recognition and occupation of such sites unavailable for the virulent pathogen.


1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-146
Author(s):  
F.M. Engels ◽  
N.A. Schalk

Ultrastructural investigations of glycanase treatments of cell wall material from industrial by-products was carried out with the enzyme-thiocarbohydrazide-silver protein technique (ETAg). Driselase, gamanase and an experimental enzyme preparation with a broad spectra of hemicellulase, cellulase and pectolytic activities were used. Carbohydrate hydrolysis was found in cell walls and cell contents in 1-2 cell layers at the surface of 0.2-mm plant particles. Enzyme activity was detected to some extent inside unlignified and lignified cell walls. The absence of any reaction in some sublayers of the cell wall was indicative for the absence of polysaccharide substrate or a very tied interaction of cell wall components preventing enzymic activity or the absence of typical enzymes in crude preparations. It was concluded that the ETAg-technique can be useful to provide information about structural limitations of poorly degradable plant materials. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)


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