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J Bacteriol. 1965 December; 90(6): 1645-1654
Copyright © 1965 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Specificity of the Heme Requirement for Growth of Bacteroides ruminicola¹

Animal Husbandry Research Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
Department of Biochemistry, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky
Department of Microbiology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

ABSTRACT

CALDWELL, D. R. (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Md.), D. C. WHITE, M. P. BRYANT, AND R. N. DOETSCH. Specificity of the heme requirement for growth of Bacteroides ruminicola. J. Bacteriol. 90:1645–1654. 1965.—Previous studies suggested that most strains of Bacteroides ruminicola subsp. ruminicola require heme for growth. Present studies with heme-requiring strain 23 showed that protoheme was replaced by various porphyrins, uroporphyrinogen, coproporphyrinogen, certain iron-free metalloporphyrins, hemes, and certain heme-proteins containing readily removable hemes. Strain 23 utilized a wider range of tetrapyrroles than hemin-requiring bacteria previously studied. Inactive compounds included porphyrin biosynthesis intermediates preceding the tetrapyrrole stage and related compounds; uroporphyrin, chlorophyll, pheophytin, phycoerythrin, bilirubin, pyrrole, FeSO₄ with or without chelating agents; and representative ferrichrome compounds. Strain 23, two other strains representing predominant biotypes of B. ruminicola subsp. ruminicola, and one closely related strain grew in media containing heme-free protoporphyrin, mesoporphyrin, hematoporphyrin, or deuteroporphyrin, apparently inserting iron into several nonvinyl porphyrins. Porphobilinogen and porphyrin synthesis, apparently via the commonly known heme synthesis pathway, occurred during growth of heme-independent B. ruminicola subsp. brevis strain GA33 in a tetrapyrrole-free medium containing -aminolevulinic acid, but -aminolevulinic acid metabolism to porphobilinogen or porphyrins could not be detected in cells of heme-requiring strain 23 grown in the same medium with hemin added. Growth of strain 23 with uroporphyrinogen, coproporphyrinogen, or protoporphyrin IX replacing hemin suggests that part of the commonly known heme-biosynthesis pathway is present in this strain, but nutritional and metabolic evidence indicates that some or all of the enzymes synthesizing the tetrapyrrole nucleus from linear molecules are lacking or inactive.

² Present address: Department of Dairy Science, University of Illinois, Urbana.

¹ A portion of this work was done at the Rockefeller Institute, New York, N.Y.

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