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J Bacteriol. 1965 July; 90(1): 157-163
Copyright © 1965 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Kinetics of Utilization of Organic Compounds in the Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis¹

^a Department of Microbiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado

ABSTRACT

BOWLES, JEAN A. (University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver), AND WILLIAM SEGAL. Kinetics of utilization of organic compounds in the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J. BACTERIOL. 90:157–163. 1965.—To obtain a workable system for a study of the kinetics of nutrient utilization (based on specific quantitative assay) by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, several cultural refinements were introduced: the use of shake culture, a 40-fold increase in the size of inoculum, substitution of glutamate for asparagine as nitrogen source, and elimination of glucose from the medium with glycerol remaining as carbon source. These modifications resulted in reduction to a tenth of the lag phase of glycerol utilization (from 40 to 4 days), and in a greatly increased rate of growth. Both coordinate and sequential patterns of nutrient utilization were in evidence, except in the case of citrate, which was never utilized under a variety of conditions of culture. The coordinate pattern of glucose-glutamate and glucose-glycerol utilization would appear to rule out catabolite repression by glucose. However, elimination of glucose from the medium resulted in elimination of the 4-day lag period before glutamate utilization was initiated, leaving open to question the role of glucose in this system. Evidence is presented for the hypothesis that the sequential pattern of glutamate-glycerol utilization is a function of glutamate repression of glycerol oxidation in the growth of M. tuberculosis, although no diauxie effect is apparent. In a determination of which nutrient-utilization systems were regulated by induction, only in the case of glycerol was evidence obtained for an inducible system. The enzymatic mechanisms underlying these patterns of nutrient utilization are presently being investigated.

¹ This report is from a dissertation submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Ph.D. degree in microbiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.