SEDIMENTATION BEHAVIOR OF SOME MACROMOLECULAR COMPONENTS FROM STREPTOCOCCUS PYOGENES

Considerable interest has developed in recent years concerning the composition of the bacterial cell at a macromolecular level (Rodenberg, 1958; Wagan et al., 1958; Hess et al., 1957). Schachman et al. (1952) were apparently the first workers to study the sedimentation behavior of extracts obtained from disrupted microbial cells. These workers used a variety of methods to rupture the cells. The sedimentation behavior of the materials in the extracts was nearly independent of the method of preparing the extracts. In general the extracted substances could be classified into one of four major groups having sedimentation constants of approximately 40, 27, 9, or 4 Svedberg units. Weibull (1953) investigated extracts of BaciUus megaterium prepared both by lysis with lysozyme and by sonic treatment. Weibull observed four components possessing sedimentation constants of approximately 42, 26, 15, and 3.5 Svedberg units. Hess and Slade (1955, 1956) and Hess et al. (1957) studied cell-free extracts from a number of strains of Streptococcus pyogenes (Lancefield group A). In these studies either the Mickle disintegrator or a 9 kc Raytheon sonic oscillator was used to bring about a dissolution of the cells. Both total extractive and successive extractive procedures were employed. The composition of the extracts was evaluated by means of moving boundary electrophoretic analysis. In view of the amount of electrophoretic information available, it seemed worthwhile to attempt to correlate the electrophoretic and sedimentation behavior of the macromolecular constituents in streptococcal extracts.