Characterization of cross-linking of cell walls of Bacillus subtilis by a combination of magic-angle spinning NMR and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of both intact and hydrolyzed 13C- and 15N-labeled cell-wall peptidoglycan.

Cross-polarization magic-angle spinning 13C and 15N NMR, rotational-echo double resonance 13C NMR, and delays alternating with nutation for tailored excitation-difference 13C NMR spectra have been obtained from lyophilized cell walls of Bacillus subtilis grown on a synthetic medium containing D,L-[2-13C, 15N]aspartate and D-[1-13C]alanine. Label from aspartate is incorporated into D-glutamic acid and m-diaminopimelic acid of cell-wall peptidoglycan, while label from alanine appears in the C-1 positions of both D- and L-alanyl residues. The cross-link index (the fraction of peptide stems joined by an isopeptide covalent bond) is obtained directly from analysis of the results of the 13C NMR experiments. However, specific isotopic enrichments of cell-wall components cannot be obtained from NMR data alone. The latter are determined either from a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of the amino acids derived from hydrolysis of cell-wall peptidoglycan, or from a combination of NMR and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric results. The combined analysis is overdetermined and so involves the least error for evaluations of both the cross-link index and the isotopic enrichments. The cross-link index is 0.33 +/- 0.03 for cell walls of B. subtilis grown in the presence of the antibiotic, cephalothin.