Bacterial Destruction of Nicotinic Acid

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Abstract
Bacteria of the green-fluorescent pigment-producing group, Pseudo-monas fluorescens and allied types, and also Serratia marcescens and related spp. can grow in a simple synthetic medium containing nicotinic acid as the only organic compound. Low concs. of nicotinic acid support growth; amts. of 0.5 to 1% often delay growth or inhibit it entirely. Destruction of nicotinic acid, as measured by chemical method, occurs during cell multiplication. When 0.1% nicotinic acid is supplied often 95% or more of the vitamin is utilized, in the presence of 0.5% nicotinic acid a smaller proportion of the total amt. is destroyed. Many cultures fail to grow or grow but poorly when nico-tinamide is substituted for the acid. All cultures fail to grow when the isomers, isonicotinic and picolinic acids, are supplied in place of nicotinic acid. Several other derivatives are utilized less readily than nicotinic acid. Both groups of bacteria causing the breakdown of nicotinic acid also synthesize the vitamin when grown in mediums originally devoid of it. The results emphasize the broader field of destruction of vitamins by bacteria, in contrast to the better-recognized role of vitamins as coenzymes or accessory factors.
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