The biochemistry of murein and cell wall teichoic acids in the genus Listeria

The composition of the cell walls of 37 strains representing all of the species and the various serovars of the genus Listeria (including taxa referred to as L. grayi, L. murrayi and L. denitrificans) was determined. With the exception of L. denitrificans all of the strains contained the directly cross-linked meso-diaminopimelic acid-containing murein variation (A1γ). Each strain revealed poly(ribitolphosphate) type teichoic acid as the prevalent - or even the only - accessory cell wall polymer. Structural variation in the teichoic acids results from glycosidic substitution of ribitol phosphate units. No correlation between the mode of substitution and the species classification of Listeria was observed, except in the case of L. denitrificans. The occurrence of the murein variation A1γ and of poly(ribito-lphosphate) type teichoic acids was evaluated as a chemotaxonomic criterion for the genus Listeria. A significant correlation was found between the teichoic acid structure and the serogroups of Listeria, suggesting that cell wall teichoic acids are immunochemical determinants of Listeria strains.