Nature 181, 906 - 907 (29 March 1958); doi:10.1038/181906b0

Uridine Diphosphate Amino-sugar Compounds from Staphylococcus aureus inhibited by Penicillin

EIJI ITO, NOBUTOSHI ISHIMOTO & MASAHIRO SAITO

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. Sept. 13.

IN 1952, Park¹ showed that three uridine diphos-phate amino-sugar compounds were accumulated in Staphylococcus aureus inhibited by penicillin. Compound I contained no amino-acid residue. Compound II contained one alanine residue and compound III contained a peptide which was composed of one glutamic acid, one lysine and three alanine residues. Recently, Strominger indicated that, even though in much smaller amount, these compounds are contained also in normal cells², and that the amino-sugar component is 3-O-carboxyethyl glucosamine³, which is known as one of the main components of cell walls⁴.

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