Methyl mercaptan and dimethyl disulfide production from methionine by Proteus species detected by head-space gas-liquid chromatography

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Abstract
Head-space GLC and mass spectrometry were used to detect and identify products formed by P. vulgaris, P. mirabilis, P. morganii and P. rettgeri from a defined medium supplemented with phenylalanine, methionine, valine, leucine, histidine, lysine, ornithine, threonine, asparagine, aspartic acid or tryptophan. In a detailed study of the products formed by 68 strains of Proteus spp. from L-methionine, the production of large amounts of dimethyl disulfide and methyl mercaptan was apparently a characteristic of the genus. Both S products appeared within a few hours of inoculation. Dimethyl disulfide was a more sensitive indicator of growth than the spectrometric determination of optical density; it could be useful for the rapid, automated detection of any Proteus sp.