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J Bacteriol. 1962 April; 83(4): 711-719
Copyright © 1962, The Williams & Wilkins Company. All Rights Reserved.

STUDIES IN METABOLIC SPECTRA IV.

Effects of Tetracyclines, Some of Their Derivatives, and Chloramphenicol on Accumulation of Glutamic Acid in Escherichia coli¹

^a Radiobiochemistry Department, Chas. Pfizer & Co., Inc., Maywood, New Jersey

ABSTRACT

CHENG, LORRAINE (Radiobiochemistry Department, Chas. Pfizer & Co., Inc., Maywood, N. J.) AND J. F. SNELL. Studies in metabolic spectra. IV. Effects of tetracyclines, some of their derivatives, and chloramphenicol on accumulation of glutamic acid in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 83:711–719. 1962.—Escherichia coli strain 21 was incubated in the Warburg apparatus at 37 C with sodium acetate-2-C¹⁴ and 0.1 µmole/ml of various test compounds. Up to 1 hr, de novo C¹⁴-glutamic acid (synthesized from the C¹⁴-acetate precursor) accumulation in the fermentation broth was found to be a common phenomenon for the control cells and cells treated with oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol. Subsequently, C¹⁴-glutamic acid continued to accumulate in the broth of the inhibited cells, but began to disappear from the broth of the control cells. During the first half hour, the rate of accumulation was most rapid in the presence of oxytetracycline. At 3 hr the total de nova C¹⁴-glutamic acid was found to be the same whether cells were treated with oxytetracycline or not. However, the distribution of this glutamic acid was different. In the oxytetracycline-treated cells, more than 87% of the total de nova C¹⁴-glutamic acid was in the broth, and only 13% was incorporated into the cell residue. In the control cells, no C¹⁴-glutamic acid was found in the broth, although 67% was in the cell residue. The possibility that the tetracyclines and chloramphenicol have different modes of action, and that oxytetracycline inhibits the incorporation of D-glutamic acid into the cell wall and membrane material in E. coli 21, was discussed.

² Present address: Department of Agricultural Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

¹ Part of the results of this investigation was published in a review by J. F. Snell and Lorraine Cheng. 1961. Studies on modes of action of tetracyclines (II), p. 107–132. In Developments in industrial microbiology. Plenum Press, New York.

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