A novel teichoic acid from the cell wall of Streptomyces sp. VKM Ac-2275

The cell wall of a pathogenic strain Streptomyces sp. VKM Ac-2275 isolated from potato tubers infected by scab contains a teichoic acid related to poly(glycosylpolyol phosphate) with a repeating unit established by chemical and NMR spectroscopic methods. About 60% of l-rhamnose residues bear an O-acetyl group at O-2 and 20% of the internal glucose residues contain an additional phosphate at C-4. The polymer is built of 5–6 units. This structure is found in bacteria for the first time. The strain is phylogenetically closest to the scab-causing species Streptomyces scabiei and Streptomyces europaeiscabiei, but differs from both these species in morphological and physiological characters and does not produce thaxtomin A, the main phytotoxin produced by S. scabiei.