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Specificity of the Stimulatory Effect of Betaine on the Vitamin B12 Fermentation

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Abstract

METHYL donors such as betaine and choline are known to stimulate production of vitamin B12 by certain microorganisms1. Ansbacher and Hill2 reported that of the crude microbial processes available in 1949, the best were characterized by disappearance of choline from the medium. Miller and Putter of these laboratories (unpublished) discovered that betaine and choline stimulate B12 production by Pseudomonas denitrificans; this has been confirmed3,4. Stern5 independently found these two compounds to stimulate, by as much as five to sixfold, the formation of B12 by Rhizobium trifolii, R. meliloti, Agrobacterium sp. and Bacillus megaterium.

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References

  1. Mervyn, L., and Smith, E. L., Prog. Indust. Microbiol., 5, 151 (1964).

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  2. Ansbacher, S., and Hill, H. H., Abstr. 116th Meet. Amer. Chem. Soc., 31A (1949).

  3. Miller, I. M., US Patent 2,960,446 (1960).

  4. McDaniel, L. E., US Patent 3,000,793 (1961).

  5. Stern, R. M., US Patent 2,923,666 (1960).

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  7. Bray, R., and Shemin, D., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 30, 647 (1958). Bray, R. C., and Shemin, D., J. Biol. Chem., 238, 1501 (1963). Shemin, D., and Bray, R. C., Ann. NY Acad. Sci., 112, Art. 2, 615 (1964).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fermentation Research Department, Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey

    ARNOLD L. DEMAIN, HORACE J. DANIELS, LUBOVE SCHNABLE & RAYMOND F. WHITE

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  1. ARNOLD L. DEMAIN
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  2. HORACE J. DANIELS
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  3. LUBOVE SCHNABLE
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  4. RAYMOND F. WHITE
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DEMAIN, A., DANIELS, H., SCHNABLE, L. et al. Specificity of the Stimulatory Effect of Betaine on the Vitamin B12 Fermentation. Nature 220, 1324–1325 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/2201324a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2201324a0

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