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Degradation of pyrimidine bases in Clostridium sticklandii

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Abstract

Resting cells of Clostridium sticklandii took up thymine or uracil, when grown in a medium containing 40 mM serine and 20 mM thymine or uracil. The uptake was much lower, when the cells had been grown in a complex medium. Cell-free extracts from cells grown in the complex medium reduced the two bases to the dihydro compounds and decomposed dihydrothymine to β-ureidoisobutyrate, as indicated by thin-layer chromatography. Uptake and degradation were stimulated by both NADH and NADPH. Further breakdown did not occur, as 14CO2 was not evolved from C-2-labelled thymine or uracil. The rates of pyrimidine uptake and breakdown of C. sticklandii were lower than those reported for C. sporogenes (Hilton et al., 1975).

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Schäfer, R., Schwartz, A.C. Degradation of pyrimidine bases in Clostridium sticklandii . Arch. Microbiol. 124, 111–114 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407038

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