Summary
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1.
Chromatium was unable to use any amino acids as carbon source, and only glutamate, glutamine and aspartate as nitrogen sources.
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2.
Addition of individual amino acids to otherwise adequate medium at concentrations of 5 mM did not inhibit growth.
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3.
Radioactive leucine and valine were incorporated only into cell protein during growth. Only leucine was labelled following growth in radioactive leucine but both valine and leucine were labelled following growth in valine.
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4.
After labelled alanine incorporation, radioactivity was found in the lipid and nucleic acid fractions as well as in protein, but over 70% of the counts recovered in the protein fraction were in alanine.
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5.
Growth and short-term uptake experiments showed reduction of leucine uptake in the presence of valine or isoleucine. Uptake of leucine and alanine was light-stimulated and reduced by chloramphenicol.
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6.
No evidence of induction of amino acid uptake systems was found, and amino acid converting enzymes, as well as some key biosyntehtic activities, were not affected by growth in amino-acid-containing media.
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7.
It is suggested that the limited use made of amino acids by Chromatium is due to absence of high-affinity transport systems, to limited product inhibition of key biosynthetic enzymes, and to restricted capacity for metabolic conversion of exogenous compounds.
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Abbreviations
- BBOT:
-
2,5-Bis[5′-tert.-butyl-2-benzoxazolyl] thiophene
- α-IPM:
-
α-isopropylmalate
- α-KIV:
-
α-ketoisovalerate
- TCA:
-
trichloracetic acid
- CAP:
-
chloramphenicol
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Wagner, B.J., Miović, M.L. & Gibson, J. Utilization of amino acids by Chromatium sp. strain D. Arch. Mikrobiol. 91, 255–272 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00408912
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00408912