Abstract
The physiology and biochemistry of Sarcina ventriculi was studied in order to determine adaptations made by the organism to changes in environmental pH. The organism altered carbon and electron flow from acetate, formate and ethanol production at neutral pH, to predominantly ethanol production at pH 3.0. Increased levels of pyruvate dehydrogenase (relative to pyruvate decarboxylase) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase occurred when the organism was grown at neutral pH, indicating the predominance of carbon flux through the oxidative branch of the pathway for pyruvate metabolism. When the organism was grown at acid pH, there was a significant increase in pyruvate decarboxylase levels and a decrease in acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, causing flux through the non-oxidative branch of the pathway. CO2 reductase and formate dehydrogenase were not regulated as a function of growth pH. Pyruvate dehydrogenase possessed Michaelis-Menten kinetics for pyruvate with an apparent K m of 2.5 mM, whereas pyruvate decarboxylase exhibited sigmoidal kinetics, with a S0.5 of 12.0 mM. Differences in total protein banding patterns from cells grown at pH extremes suggested that synthesis of pyruvate decarboxylase and other enzymes was in part responsible for metabolic regulation of the fermentation products formed.
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Lowe, S.E., Zeikus, J.G. Metabolic regulation of carbon and electron flow as a function of pH during growth of Sarcina ventriculi . Arch. Microbiol. 155, 325–329 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00243450
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00243450