Preparation and Properties of Cell Walls of the Agent of Meningopneumonitis

Abstract

It is recognized that microorganisms of the psittacosis group are contained within a rigid envelope (Hamre, Rake, and Rake, 1947) which is highly resistant to enzymes (Brown, Itatani, and Moulder, 1952) and mechanical disintegration (Ross and Gogolak, 1957). With the demonstration that penicillin inhibits the growth of bacteria by interfering with cell wall synthesis (Park and Strominger, 1957; Hahn and Ciak, 1957; Lederberg, 1957), the susceptibility of members of the psittacosis group to penicillin (Hurst, 1953) suggested that their outer envelopes might be analogous to the cell walls of bacteria. Since these structures have properties not encountered in other kinds of cells (Cummins and Harris, 1956; Salton, 1956; Work, 1957; Mitchell, 1959), the association of a reasonable number of these unique properties with the outer envelopes of members of the psittacosis group would be of decisive weight in establishing their evolutionary origin. This report describes the isolation and chemical characterization of the rigid envelopes of the agent of meningopneumonitis, a typical member of the psittacosis group. These structures will from now on be called cell walls as a matter of convenience and without any immediate implication of analogy or lack of analogy with bacterial cell walls. Their serological properties will be reported elsewhere (Jenkin, Ross, and Moulder, unpublished data)

Electron Microscopic Observations on the Structure of the Envelopes of Mature Elementary Bodies and Developmental Reticulate Forms of Chlamydia psittaci

“…The existence of cell walls similar in many respects to those of bacteria was suggested by the inhibition of Chiamydia by penicillin (5, 12,15) and was demonstrated directly by the isolation and partial chemical analysis of the envelopes of these organisms (2,4,8). This similarity to bacteria suggested that the envelope should consist of a cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane, but such structures have not been previously demonstrated.…”

Identification of a major envelope protein in Chlamydia spp

“…1 (lanes a and b) that there is little difference between crude and purified elementary bodies of C. psittaci, and, even in these whole cell preparations, the most prominent feature is a protein band with a molecular weight of approximately 43,000, hereafter referred to as the major protein. This major protein remained the dominant feature of cell envelopes of C. psittaci elementary bodies prepared by the alkali-EDTA method of Narita and (10). from each lane in Fig.…”

Lipid Metabolism of Monkey Kidney Cells (LLC-MK-2) Infected with Chlamydia trachomatis Strain lymphogranuloma venereum

“…Metabolism and lipid analysis of a number of chlamydia agents cultivated in chicken embryos and cell culture has been previously reported by several investigators (11,13,17,20). Jenkin (1) reported that the purified Chlamydia psittaci strain meningopneumonitis (MN) contained a large amount of lipid (about 40% by dry weight).…”