Alteration of macrophage membrane lipids following processing of bacterial peptidoglycan

As part of the continuing investigation into the role played by macrophages in antigen presentation and bacterial adjuvant activation, the authors have examined the metabolites produced by macrophages after encounter with peptidoglycan. Peptidoglycan was chosen because it contains N-acetyl-muramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (muramyl dipeptide), a known adjuvant whose primary target cell is the macrophage. In previous work, the authors established that a series of muramyl dipeptide-like glycopeptides was released into the medium following phagocytosis of peptidoglycan by a macrophage cell line. Here the authors report on the finding that, additionally, a membrane lipid has been covalently altered by the addition of a peptidoglycan fragment. Bacillus subtilis cell walls which had been radiolabeled in their muramic acid, glucosamine and alanine residues, were incubated with the murine macrophage cell line RAW264. Using standard lipid extraction procedures, a lipid was isolated and found to contain equal molar ratios of alanine, glutamic acid and diaminopimelic acid. Since lipidated peptidoglycan peptides have been shown to be immunoactivators, the isolated lipid derivative may serve as a signal for interactions with other lymphocytes.