Protein and fatty acid composition of mesosomal vesicles and plasma membranes of Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Qualitatively, the protein and fatty acid composition of purified mesosomal vesicles and the plasma membrane isolated from S. aureus ATCC 6538P are identical, the major difference between these two cellular components being only quantitative in nature. Mesosomal vesicles and plasma membranes, when subjected to acidic or neuronal disk gel electrophoresis, exhibited more than 22 bands of protein. With urea acetic acid gels, the plasma membrane had a higher concentration of 'slower migrating proteins' whereas 'faster migrating proteins' predominated in the mesosomal vesicles. With neutral disk gel electrophoresis, mesosomal vesicles exhibited one prominent protein band with an approximate molecular weight of 35,000 and which was four times greater than that found in the corresponding region on gels of the plasma membrane. Finally, fatty acid analyses by capillary column gas chromatography showed that although the fatty acid composition is the same, the fatty acid content in mesosomal vesicles is 48% greater than that of the plasma membrane. The dominant fatty acids in both of these cellular components are the iso and anteiso branched methyl C15, C17, and C19 fatty acids and comprise at least 85% of the total fatty acids extracted. These results show that distinct chemical differences exist between the mesosomal vesicles and the plasma membrane.