Abstract
-
1.
Accumulation of glycogen up to a constant amount per cell was observed during the post-exponential phase of growth, in the presence of an excess of a utilizable carbon source. Cell multiplication was reproducibly controlled by growth of the organism in a nitrogen-limiting medium under photoautotrophic conditions (presence of light, air plus CO2).
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2.
Temporary starvation, i.e. by removal of light or by the addition to an illuminated culture of DCMU, 3-(3′,4′-dichlorophenyl)-1,1′-dimethylurea, a specific inhibitor of photosystem II, lead to a mobilization of glycogen in the cell. Furthermore, Anacystis nidulans, having accumulated glycogen by virtue of preculture under nitrogen-limiting conditions, will resume cell division when the culture medium is complemented with a nitrogen source. The ability of the organism to use glycogen as an endogenous carbon source for growth was observed by addition of a nitrogen source to nitrogen-starving cells and simultaneous removal of CO2.
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3.
During the period of constant amount of glycogen per cell the reserve polysaccharide was subject to turnover as demonstrated with a pulse chase-labelling technique. The demonstration of a turnover—for the first time with a bacterial species—indicated a strict balance in the relative rate of synthesis and degradation.
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Abbreviations
- DCMU:
-
or 3-(3′,4′-dichlorophenyl)-1,1′-dimethyl-urea
- (EC 3.2.1.3):
-
Glucoamylase or 1,4-α-d-glucan glucohydrolase
- (EC 1.1.3.4):
-
glucose oxidase or β-d-glucose: oxygen 1-oxidoreductase
- (EC 1.11.1.7):
-
peroxidase or donor: hydrogen-peroxide oxidoreductase
- (EC 2.7.7.27):
-
ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase or ATP: α-d-glucose 1-phosphate adenylyltransferase
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Lehmann, M., Wöber, G. Accumulation, mobilization and turn-over of glycogen in the blue-green bacterium Anacystis nidulans . Arch. Microbiol. 111, 93–97 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00446554
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00446554