Premium
Regular Array in the Cell Wall of Lactobacillus fermenti as Revealed by Freeze‐Etching and Negative Staining 1
Author(s) -
Kawata Tomio,
Masuda Kuniyoshi,
Yoshino Kazuhiro,
Fujimoto Michimasa
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
japanese journal of microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0021-5139
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1974.tb00836.x
Subject(s) - ultrastructure , cytoplasm , tetragonal crystal system , etching (microfabrication) , staining , layer (electronics) , cell wall , optics , materials science , chemistry , optical axis , long axis , crystallography , biophysics , anatomy , biology , geometry , composite material , physics , mathematics , biochemistry , genetics , lens (geology) , crystal structure
Freeze‐etching of Lactobacillus fermenti F‐4 (NCTC 7230) revealed that the outer layer of the cell wall was composed of a regular array in which parallel lines ran obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the cell with an average distance between the centers of about 9.6 nm and were intersected by thinner lines with an average periodicity of approximately 6.2 nm at an angle of about 75°. Occasionally the direction of the striation was discontinuously shifted near one end of the cell. Beneath the regular array the middle cell wall layer packed with granules and the smooth inner cell wall layer were discernible and the mesosomes were also visible in the cytoplasm. When the ultrastructure of isolated outer cell wall fragments was examined by negative staining, the regular array appeared to be composed of subunits, about 3.6 nm in diameter, which were arranged in a tetragonal pattern. The tetragonal array consisted of the subunits in rows in two directions at an angle of about 75° to each other. The average spacing between the rows was about 9.3 nm in one direction and 5.5 nm in the other direction.