BIOLOGICAL-ACTIVITIES OF LIPOTEICHOIC ACID AND PEPTIDOGLYCAN TEICHOIC-ACID OF BACILLUS-SUBTILIS-168 (MARBURG)

To evaluate the suitability of Bacillus subtilis as a production host of heterologous proteins for pharmaceutical purposes, we assessed the biological activity of this bacterium and its major cell envelope comp onents, lipoteichoic acid (LTA) and peptidoglycan-teichoic acid comple x (PG-TA) in several eukaryotic effector assays. LTA and PG-TA were fo und to be non-toxic for mice and guinea-pigs in a short-term toxicity assay. PG-TA was weakly pyrogenic and weakly mitogenic. Both LTA and P G-TA acted as immunologic adjuvants in mice and when injected in mice, also caused an increase in the number of granulocyte-monocyte colony- forming cells in the bone marrow probably via stimulation of productio n of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor.