Summary
1. Anaerobic amino-acid breakdown in a garden soil was accompanied by the formation of large quantities of volatile fatty acid and ammonia (plus indole in the case of tryptophan).
2. Hydroxyproline, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and valine were found to be “resistant” and decomposed more slowly than did alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, cystine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine lysine, and serine. Casein hydrolysate was rapidly and completely deaminated.
3. The slow rates of breakdown of the “resistant” acids when tested singly could not be attributed either to the effects of adsorption on the soil surface or to elimination of an essential Stickland reaction.
4. The effect of glucose and of nitrate on anaerobic amino-acid metabolism have been tested. With the exception ofdl-methionine nitrate acted as an hydrogen acceptor in the anaerobic deamination of the “resistant” acids, glucose had no effect on their anaerobic metabolism.
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Greenwood, D.J., Lees, H. Studies on the decomposition of amino acids in soils. Plant Soil 12, 69–80 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01377762
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01377762