[Chemical and immunologic study of the bacterial wall of Brucella abortus 99]

The investigations were carried out through the CFT serologic activity of some of the Brucella abortus 99 cell components. It was found that only 0.6 per cent of the weight of the bacterial walls could be extracted by means of physiologic saline. The extracts proved to be serologically active and specific for these Brucella organisms only. The wall of Brucella abortus 99 and its peptidoglucan were shown to be rich in lysine, leucine, glitamic acid, and valine, and poor in methionine, histidine, treonine, and, generally, in sulfur-containing amino acids. The presence of higher content of lysine and glutamic acid explained the higher resistance of the bacterial walls of Brucella abortus 99 as compared to that of M. Lysodiecticus. The wall of Br. abortus 99 contains high amounts of phosphatidil acids - 16.4 per cent of the total amount of lipids. The biologic importance of the results obtained is briefly discussed.