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Tracer Studies to Locate the Site of Platinum Ions Within Filamentous and Inhibited Cells of Escherichia coli

^a Department of Biophysics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823

ABSTRACT

The distribution of platinum ions within Escherichia coli after the induction of filaments with cis-Pt(NH₃)₂Cl₄, and after growth inhibition by PtCl₆^2–, has been determined with radioactive metal compounds (¹⁹¹Pt, with a half-life of approximately 3 days) by the simple chemical procedure of Roberts et al. In the filamentous cells, the platinum metal is associated with metabolic intermediates, nucleic acids, and cytoplasmic proteins; whereas, in inhibited cells, the platinum is combined only with the cytoplasmic protein. Similar experiments with gram-positive cells of Bacillus cereus and Staphyloccus aureus, which show no filamentous growth in the presence of cis-Pt(NH₃)₂Cl₄, reveal that the metal complex does penetrate the cell wall and subsequently becomes bound predominantly by metabolic intermediates.

¹ Present address: Michigan Department of Public Health Laboratories, Lansing, Mich. 48823.

² Present address: School of Chemical Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England.