Oxidation of fatty acids by cell-free extracts of a vibrio

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Abstract
Soluble extracts prepared from a vibrio grown with hexanoate, heptanoate, octanoate and nonanoate catalyzed the oxidation of these acids, and decanoate, by molecular oxygen. At similar concentrations acetate, propionate, butyrate and valerate were not attacked. The acids with even numbers of C atoms were oxidized to acetate, and those with odd numbers, to a mixture of acetate and propionate. Magnesium ions, diphosphopyridine nucleotide, adenosine triphosphate and coenzyme A were essential for activity of extracts. Extracts contained acetate kinase, isocitratase and malate synthetase. The amount of isocitratase was greater in extracts from cells grown with acetate or octanoate than when succinate, benzoate or p-hydroxybenzoate were the sources of C. A mixture of glyoxylate and acetyl phosphate was oxidized faster than the sum of the rates of oxidation for the 2 compounds separately. Suberic acid (hexane-1, 6-dicarboxylic acid) does not appear to be an intermediate in the oxidation of octanoic acid by this organism.