Phenethyl Alcohol I. Effect on Macromolecular Synthesis of Escherichia coli

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Abstract
An investigation of the mode of action of phenethyl-alcohol produced the following results. Phenethyl-alcohol had no effect on the physiocochemical properties of isolated deoxyribonu-cleic-acid (DNA). The DNA isolated from phenethyl-alcohol-treated bacteria had physiochemical properties identical with those of DNA isolated from normal cells. The metabolic functions most sensitive to the inhibitory action of phenethyl-alcohol appeared to be the process of enzyme induction and, possibly, the synthesis of messenger ribonucleic-acid. Phenethyl-alcohol did not affect the polyuridylic-acid-mediated synthesis of polyphenylalanine in a cell-free amino-acid-incorporating system.