Tracer Studies to Locate the Site of Platinum Ions Within Filamentous and Inhibited Cells of Escherichia coli

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Abstract
The distribution of platinum ions within Escherichia coli after the induction of filaments with cis -Pt(NH 3 ) 2 Cl 4 , and after growth inhibition by PtCl 6 2− , has been determined with radioactive metal compounds ( 191 Pt, with a half-life of approximately 3 days) by the simple chemical procedure of Roberts et al. In the filamentous cells, the platinum metal is associated with metabolic intermediates, nucleic acids, and cytoplasmic proteins; whereas, in inhibited cells, the platinum is combined only with the cytoplasmic protein. Similar experiments with gram-positive cells of Bacillus cereus and Staphyloccus aureus , which show no filamentous growth in the presence of cis -Pt(NH 3 ) 2 Cl 4 , reveal that the metal complex does penetrate the cell wall and subsequently becomes bound predominantly by metabolic intermediates.