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Effects of thiamine deprivation on the growth and metabolism of the phytoflagellatePolytomella agilis

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Abstract

The effects of thiamine deprivation on the growth, respiration, and activity of several enzymes of the phytoflagellate protozoanPolytomella agilis were studied. Vitamin deprivation had no effect on the exponential growth rate; the peak population of cultures grown without thiamine was 50% of the control level. The rates of oxygen consumption in control and thiamine-deprived cultures were not significantly different from each other. The activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase and oxoglutarate dehydrogenase in vitamin-deprived cells were 14% and 30%, respectively, of the control values. In these cells, the succinic dehydrogenase activity was 10% and mitochondrial ATPase activity was twice that of control cells. Vitamin deprivation had no effect on the activities of malate dehydrogenase and isocitrate lyase, but pyruvic carboxylase activity increased fourfold. These results indicate a complex role for thiamine in the regulation of growth, respiration, and metabolism in this organism.

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  1. Department of Biology, California State University, 91330, Northridge, California, USA

    Marvin H. Cantor

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  1. Marvin H. Cantor
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Cantor, M.H. Effects of thiamine deprivation on the growth and metabolism of the phytoflagellatePolytomella agilis . Current Microbiology 1, 349–351 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02621368

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