EFFECT OF HEMIN AND OXYGEN TENSION ON GROWTH AND NITRATE REDUCTION BY BACTERIA

Jacobs, N. J. (American Meat Institute Foundation, Chicago, Ill.), R. E. Heady, J. M. Jacobs, K. Chan, and R. H. Deibel. Effect of hemin and oxygen tension on growth and nitrate reduction by bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 87:1406-1411. 1964.-The effect of hemin supplementation of growth media on the ability of several bacteria to reduce nitrate was studied. Added hemin had no detectable effect on the ability of these organisms to reduce nitrate when grown in stationary cultures exposed to air. However, under anaerobic conditions, six strains of facultatively anaerobic staphylococci required hemin for nitrate reduction and growth stimulation in complex, nitrate-containing media. In a nutritionally defined medium, one strain of Staphylococcus required both hemin and nitrate for anaerobic growth. Anaerobic growth and nitrite production of the aerobe Bacillus subtilis was stimulated by addition of hemin. However, the anaerobic growth response was markedly de-decreased as compared with that obtained under static atmospheric conditions. Hemin had no detectable effect on anaerobic nitrate reduction or growth of the obligate aerobe Pseudomonas denitrificans, or of the facultative anaerobes Escherichia coli, B. polymyxa, and Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

SIALIDASE (NEURAMINIDASE) OF CORYNEBACTERIUM DIPHTHERIAE

Warren, Leonard (National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, Bethesda, Md.) and C. W. Spearing. Sialidase (neuraminidase) of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. J. Bacteriol. 86:950-955. 1963.-The characteristics of a sialidase produced by Corynebacterium diphtheriae were studied. The enzyme was partially purified from preparations of diphtheria toxin on a column of Sephadex G-75. By this means the lethal factor of diphtheria toxin was separated, in part, from the sialidase activity. There appeared to be a close immunological relationship between the sialidases of C. diphtheriae and clostridia, since a preparation of diphtheria antitoxin was as effective an inhibitor of diphtheria sialidase as of the sialidase of three species of clostridia. Conversely, antitoxin to clostridia inhibited diphtheria sialidase. Diphtheria antitoxin was essentially inactive toward influenza virus sialidase, and was completely inactive against purified sialidase of Vibrio cholerae. Removal of sialic acid from the proteins in a preparation of diphtheria antitoxin did not alter the inhibitory activity of the antitoxin against diphtheria sialidase. The enzyme operated optimally at pH 5.5 and did not require calcium ions for activity. The substrate specificity of diphtheria sialidase appears to be the same as that of other previously described sialidases.

IN VITRO AND IN VIVO LABORATORY EVALUATION OF CEPHALOGLYCIN AND CEPHALORIDINE

Two new antibiotics, structurally related to cephalothin, have been given the generic names cephaloglycin and cephaloridine. Cephaloglycin is the dipolar ion of 7-(d-alpha-aminophenylacetamido)-cephalosporanic acid. Cephaloridine is 7-[alpha-(2-thiophene)acetamido]-3-(1-pyridylmethyl)-3-cephem-4-carboxylic acid betaine. These new compounds were evaluated simultaneously. The broad spectrum of activity observed in vitro and in vivo with both antibiotics, the good oral absorption obtained with cephaloglycin, and the stability of cephaloridine are emphasized. The data suggest that both antibiotics merit clinical trial in humans.