Peptidoglycan types of strains of the genus Peptococcus

Determination of the primary structure of the peptidoglycan of 8 strains of Peptococcus showed that 4 different peptidoglycan types occur. P. prevotii ATCC 9321 and P. grigoroffii H40/10 contain the l-Lys-d-Glu type with glycine in position 1 of the peptide subunit. P. variabilis ATCC 14955 and H 39/5, P. activus H22/12 and P. anaerobius H/7 show the l-Lys-Gly type with glycine in position 1 of the peptide subunit. P. aerogenes ATCC 14963 contains the l-Orn-d-Glu type and P. saccharolyticus ATCC 14953 the l-Lys-Gly₄, l-Ser₁type. The occurrence of these different peptidoglycan types is a valuable criterion for the classification of peptococci. The following conclusions were made: P. saccharolyticus had to be excluded from Peptococcus. P. variabilis and P. anaerobius can be united within one species, whereas P. prevotii ATCC 9321 and P. aerogenes ATCC 14963 can not be included in one species as has been suggested before. P. grigoroffii H40/10 and P. activus H22/12 were wrongly classified.