Degradation of phospholipid and release of diglyceride-rich membrane vesicles during protoplast formation in certain gram-positive bacteria.

Membrane phospholipid was found to be hydrolyzed presumably by an intracellular phospholipase C, and diglyceride-rich membrane vesicles were released from the cells during protoplast formation in Bacillus cereus Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus lysodeikticus, and Staphylococcus aureus. The released membranes consisted mainly of small vesicles of 50 to 100 nm in diameter. They have a lower density than that of protoplast membranes in all the bacteria tested in the present study.