PATHWAYS OF GLUCOSE CATABOLISM IN BACILLUS SUBTILIS

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Abstract
Goldman, Manuel (The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) and Harold J. Blumenthal . Pathways of glucose catabolism in Bacillus subtilis . J. Bacteriol. 86: 303–311. 1963.—Under aerobic conditions, resting cells of Bacillus subtilis Marburg C4 catabolized 60 to 70% of glucose by the Embden-Meyerhof pathway and the remainder by the hexose monophosphate pathway; under anaerobic conditions, the percentages were 70 to 80 and 20 to 30, respectively. These estimates, based on two different radio-isotopic procedures, were the same whether the cells were grown in a glucose medium containing a complex, organic nitrogen source (C cells) or a simple inorganic nitrogen source (S cells). In C cells, respiration was inhibited by fluoride, whereas S cells were relatively insensitive to this influence. Factors such as the initial concentration of inorganic phosphate or glucose during growth, and the concentration of inorganic phosphate or even the presence of fluoride during glucose utilization by resting cells, had no major effects on the pathways of glucose catabolism. From an examination of the isotopic distribution in an isolated intermediate, lactic acid, it seems unlikely that the radioisotopic estimates were influenced by such other factors as participation of an Entner-Doudoroff pathway, extensive randomization of C 1 activity into other positions of the hexose molecule, or extensive CO 2 fixation.