The gram complex in clostridium welchii

ABSTRACT IT has been reported1,2 that various Gram-positive micro-organisms may be converted into Gram-negative cytoskeletons by extraction with 2 per cent sodium cholate at 60° C. The

extract from _Clostridium welchii_, for example, contained mainly magnesium ribonucleate, deoxyribonucleic acid and polysaccharide, while the extract from _Saccharomyces cerevisiæ_ was

composed chiefly of polysaccharide and magnesium ribonucleate. Cytoskeletons so rendered Gram-negative could be reconverted to Gram-positive forms by treatment under reducing conditions with

the cholate extract. The essential component in this replating process was magnesium ribonucleate, and it was shown that magnesium ribonucleate from a variety of sources could be replated

on to reduced cytoskeletons of yeast or _Cl. welchii_. When Gram-positive cells were converted into Gram-negative forms by autolysis, the resulting cytoskeletons could not be replated by

magnesium ribonucleate. Short autolytic processes were found to result in the liberation into solution of an essentially intact magnesium ribonucleoprotein which possessed the staining

properties of the Gram-positive cells themselves. The nucleoprotein could be dissociated into magnesium ribonucleate and a protein—neither of which separately possessed the property of being

able to retain the Gram stain, but which, upon recombination under reducing conditions, formed a complex which stained intensely Gram-positive. In the light of these results, it was

suggested that an essential part of the Gram complex is a magnesium ribonucleoprotein. Numerous confirmations of these claims and techniques have been received3,4,5 from workers in various

parts of the world, though recently Mitchell and Moyle6 prefer to regard the essential part of the Gram complex as a hypothetical “_X/P_ factor”. However, inasmuch as the results of Mitchell

and Moyle show no content of this as yet ill-defined _X/P_ factor in _Cl. welchii_, which is one of the most intensely staining Gram-positive organisms, we find it difficult to accept their

assumption that this factor is an essential component of the Gram complex. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

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Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * A. S. JONES: Beit Memorial Research Fellow. AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Chemistry Department, University, Birmingham, 15 A. S. JONES, P.

W. MUGGLETON & M. STACEY Authors * A. S. JONES View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * P. W. MUGGLETON View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. STACEY View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and

permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE JONES, A., MUGGLETON, P. & STACEY, M. The Gram Complex in _Clostridium welchii_. _Nature_ 166, 650–651 (1950).

https://doi.org/10.1038/166650a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 14 October 1950 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/166650a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be

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