Alterations in the composition and bacteriophage-binding properties of walls of Staphylococcus aureus H grown in continuous culture in simplified defined media.

A nutritional mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H has been isolated and grown in media in which the only amino acids are arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid and proline. Walls of the bacteria grown in such media in continuous culture under potassium limitation differ in composition from walls of the bacteria grown in batch culture in rich nutrient broth in that they contain less glycine, the peptidoglycan component is less highly cross-linked and the teichoic acid component contains a reduced proportion of N-acetylglucosaminyl substituents. Walls of the potassium-limited bacteria retain the ability to bind bacteriophage 52a but are more susceptible to the action of lytic peptidases than are wall samples in which the peptidoglycan is more highly cross-linked. Teichoic acid was present in walls of the bacteria grown under phosphate limitation in the defined medium and these walls were also able to absorb bacteriophage 52a.