The Effect of Streptomycin on the Oxygen Uptake of Eberthella typhosa

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Abstract
The O2 uptake and R.Q. of washed cells of E. typhosa were. detd. in a Barcroft-War-burg apparatus. Streptomycin, sufficient to make a final conc. of 1,000 U./ml., was added to a system in which endogenous respiration was proceeding at 37[degree]C and at pH 7.4. There was an immediate marked increase in the rate of O2 uptake. At 6 hrs. the rate of uptake was less than that of control cells. The addn. of glucose in a conc. of 0.01% to a similar system also produced an increased O2 uptake. At 6 hrs. the rate of uptake had dropped to that of the controls. Evidence so far obtained indicates that the increased O2 uptake in the presence of streptomycin is not due to bacterial oxidation of streptomycin or of impurities in it. When glucose and streptomycin (500 U./ml.) were both added to a suspension of a streptomycin-resistant variant of the Hopkins strain, the O2 uptake was less than when glucose alone was added. When the streptomycin conc. was 2,000 U./ml., the O2 uptake considerably exceeded the uptake when glucose alone was added. When 500 U./ml. of streptomycin were added in the absence of available substrate, no change in O2 uptake occurred, but when 2,000 U./ml. were added, there was considerable increase in O2 uptake.

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