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J Bacteriol. 1973 November; 116(2): 965-971
Copyright © 1973 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Biosynthetic Precursors of Vitamin K as Growth Promoters for Bacteroides melaninogenicus

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
Department of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261

ABSTRACT

The growth of a vitamin K-requiring strain of Bacteroides melaninogenicus was promoted by some postulated and proven biosynthetic precursors of bacterial menaquinones, 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, shikimic acid, chorismic acid, and 4(2'-carboxyphenyl)-4-oxobutyric acid. Growth of the organism with [2',4-¹⁴C₂]-4(2'-carboxy phenyl)-4-oxobutyric acid as the vitamin K replacement gave rise to a mixture of radioactive menaquinone-9 and menaquinone-10; the dilution factor for this incorporation was 1.8.