Archibald A R, Coapes H E
J Bacteriol. 1976 Mar;125(3):1195-206. doi: 10.1128/jb.125.3.1195-1206.1976.
When grown under conditions of phosphate limitation, Bacillus subtilis W23 lacked wall teichoic acid and did not adsorb phage SP50. During transition from growth under conditions of phosphate limitation to those of potassium limitation, the bacteria developed an ability to adsorb phage which increased exponentially in relation to their content of wall teichoic acid. During transition in the reverse direction, the bacteria retained near-maximum phage-binding properties until their content of wall teichoic acid had fallen to a fairly low level. These observations suggest that newly incorporated wall material does not immediately appear at the cell surface in a structure to which phage can adsorb. Examination of the location of adsorbed phage particles showed that recently incorporated receptor material appeared at the cell surface first along the length of the cylindrical portion of the cell. The results are consistent with models of wall assembly in which newly synthesized wall material is intercalated at a large number of sites that are distributed along the length of the cell. This newly incorporated material may be located initially at a level underlying the surface of the cell and may become exposed at the surface only during subsequent growth. Incorporation of new material may also proceed rapidly into the developing septa, but new wall material is incorporated into existing polar caps more slowly, or perhaps not at all.
在磷酸盐限制条件下生长时，枯草芽孢杆菌W23缺乏壁磷壁酸且不吸附噬菌体SP50。在从磷酸盐限制条件下的生长转变为钾限制条件下的生长过程中，细菌产生了吸附噬菌体的能力，且该能力与其壁磷壁酸含量呈指数增加。在反向转变过程中，细菌保持接近最大的噬菌体结合特性，直到其壁磷壁酸含量降至相当低的水平。这些观察结果表明，新掺入的壁物质不会立即以噬菌体可吸附的结构出现在细胞表面。对吸附的噬菌体颗粒位置的检查表明，最近掺入的受体物质首先沿细胞圆柱形部分的长度出现在细胞表面。这些结果与壁组装模型一致，在该模型中，新合成的壁物质在沿细胞长度分布的大量位点处插入。这种新掺入的物质最初可能位于细胞表面下方的水平，并且可能仅在随后的生长过程中才暴露于表面。新材料也可能迅速掺入正在形成的隔膜中，但新的壁物质掺入现有的极帽中则较慢，或者可能根本不掺入。
