Premium
Studies on the conformation of and metal ion binding by teichoic acid of Staphylococcus aureus
Author(s) -
Pal Medini Kanta,
Ghosh Tapash Chandra,
Ghosh Jimut Kanti
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.360300305
Subject(s) - teichoic acid , chemistry , staphylococcus aureus , metal , metal ions in aqueous solution , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , bacteria , organic chemistry , enzyme , genetics , biology , peptidoglycan
Teichoic acid (TA) isolated from the gram‐positive bacteria S. aureus binds cationic dyes like pinacyanol (PCYN), 1,9‐dimethyl methylene blue, acridine orange, etc., depicting blue‐shifted metachromasia, and they bind the cationic dye carbocyanine depicting the red‐shifted J band. TAs do not show any uv absorption band, and exhibition of tailing CD in the short uv region hints at its chiral conformation. Chiral conformation of TA has been confirmed from the induction of strong biphasic CD in the TA–carbocyanine system. Relative affinities for Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and Na + have been probed from the disruption of metachromasia of the TA–dye system by these ions. Results show Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ to be almost equally effective in destroying the metachromasia of the TA–PCYN system, thus not supporting the hypothesis of special affinity for Mg 2+ ion.