Localization of Bacterial Nucleic Acids and Mechanism of the Gram Reaction

As a consequence of the brilliant studies of Stacey and co-workers, reviewed by Webb 1 , many investigators of the Gram reaction in bacteria are agreed that the Gram complex is a combination of basic dye and pentose nucleoprotein, apparently localized at or in the cell wall. However, as Lison 2 has pointed out, the problem of localization in cytochemistry is a difficult one, and it is not altogether certain that the basophilic component of the Gram complex normally occurs at the cell wall.