Summary
Fluoroacetate was extremely toxic toThiobacillus neapolitanus strainC, retarding growth even at 10-9 m. Inhibition could be relieved by relatively high concentrations of acetate or propionate. Inhibited cultures eventually recovered from inhibition and grew in the presence of fluoroacetate over the concentration range 10-9 to 10-5 m. The recovery represented a recommencement of division of the total population, as it was shown that 60–100% of the organisms inoculated on to agar containing as much as 10-3 m fluoroacetate formed colonies after lags as long as 37 days. Even longer lags occurred with more fluoroacetate, but fewer organisms survived. Fluoroacetate appeared specifically to inhibit the Krebs' cycle through fluorocitrate synthesis; this confirmed that the cycle is essential to the autotrophic metabolism.
Fluoroacetate-resistant variants occurred spontaneously at a frequency of about 2 per million organisms. These grew at normal exponential rates even in the presence of 10-2 m fluoroacetate. They appeared to differ from the wild type organism only in lacking acetyl coenzyme A synthetase and possibly having decreased permeability to acetate. The origin of acetyl coenzyme A for biosynthesis in these mutants, and the significance of the lack of “heterotrophic enzymes” from an obligate autotroph, are discussed.
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Kelly, D.P. Fluoroacetate toxicity inThiobacillus neapolitanus and its relevance to the problem of obligate chemoautotrophy. Archiv. Mikrobiol. 61, 59–76 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00704292
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00704292