FLAVINE ADENINE DINUCLEOTIDE-LINKED MALIC DEHYDROGENASE FROM ACETOBACTER XYLINUM

Benziman, Moshe (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel), and Y. Galanter. Flavine adenine dinucleotide-linked malic dehydrogenase from Acetobacter xylinum. J. Bacteriol. 88:1010-1018. 1964.-The properties of the pyridine nucleotide-nonlinked malic dehydrogenase of Acetobacter xylinum were investigated in the supernatant fluid obtained by high-speed centrifugation of sonic extracts. Ferricyanide, phenazine methosulfate, and to a lesser extent dichlorophenolindophenol were active as oxidants for malate oxidation. After acid ammonium sulfate precipitation, the enzyme lost its malate-oxidizing activity. The enzyme was reactivated by low concentrations of flavine adenine dinucleotide (FAD) but not by flavine mononucleotide (FMN) or riboflavine. Atabrine inhibited the enzyme, and the inhibition was relieved by FAD but not by FMN or riboflavine. Malate-oxidizing activity was inhibited by hematin. The inhibition was prevented by imidazole or globin. o-Phenanthroline, 8-hydroxy quinoline, alpha,alpha'-dipyridyl, and p-chloromercuribenzoate inhibited malate oxidation. Amytal markedly inhibited oxidation of malate in the presence of oxygen, phenazine methosulfate, or dichlorophenolindophenol, but not in the presence of ferricyanide. The results suggest that the malic dehydrogenase of A. xylinum is a FAD enzyme, which contains an ironbinding site essential for its activity. Nonheme iron and sulfhydro groups are possibly involved in enzyme activity. The malic dehydrogenase is functionally linked to the cytochrome chain.

HAEM SYNTHASE AND COBALT PORPHYRIN SYNTHASE IN VARIOUS MICRO-ORGANISMS

1. The preparation of a crude extract of Clostridium tetanomorphum containing cobalt porphyrin synthase but little haem-synthase activity is described. 2. The properties of cobalt porphyrin synthase in the clostridial extracts is compared with the properties of a haem synthase present in crude extracts of the yeast Torulopsis utilis. 3. Cobalt porphyrin synthase in extracts of C. tetanomorphum inserts Co(2+) ions into the following dicarboxylic porphyrins in descending order of rate of insertion: meso-, deutero- and proto-porphyrins. Esterification renders meso- and deutero-porphyrins inactive as substrates. Neither the tetracarboxylic (coproporphyrin III) nor the octacarboxylic (uroporphyrin III) compounds are converted into cobalt porphyrins by the extract, but the non-enzymic incorporation of Co(2+) ions into these two porphyrins is rapid. These extracts are unable to insert Mn(2+), Zn(2+), Mg(2+) or Cu(2+) ions into mesoporphyrin. 4. Crude extracts of T. utilis readily insert both Co(2+) and Fe(2+) ions into deutero-, meso, and proto-porphyrins. Unlike the extracts of C. tetanomorphum, these preparations catalyse the insertion of Co(2+) ions into deuteroporphyrin more rapidly than into mesoporphyrin. This parallels the formation of haems by the T. utilis extract. 5. Cobalt porphyrin synthase is present in the particulate fraction of the extracts of C. tetanomorphum but requires a heat-stable factor present in the soluble fraction. This soluble factor can be replaced by GSH. 6. Cobalt porphyrin synthase in the clostridial extract is inhibited by iodoacetamide and to a smaller extent by p-chloromercuribenzoate and N-ethylmaleimide. The haem synthases of T. utilis and Micrococcus denitrificans are also inhibited by various thiol reagents.

HEMIN BIOSYNTHESIS IN HAEMOPHILUS

White, David C. (The Rockefeller Institute, New York, N.Y.) and S. Granick. Hemin biosynthesis in Haemophilus. J. Bacteriol. 85:842-850. 1963.-Hemin-independent Haemophilus species have been shown to form hemin by the classical hemin biosynthetic pathway. Three distinct species of Haemophilus [H. influenzae, H. aegyptius, and H. canis (H. haemoglobinophilus)] all lost the enzymatic capacities to convert delta-aminolevulinic acid to protoporphyrin, which accounts for their dependence on hemin for growth. The strain of H. aegyptus tested cannot form hemin from protoporphyrin, can be transformed with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from H. influenzae, and the resultant progeny have the enzymatic activity to convert protoporphyrin to hemin. Attempts to transform these species to hemin independence with DNA from hemin-independent H. parainfluenzae are unsuccessful under conditions where streptomycin resistance is readily transformed.

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.

PORCINE CONTAGIOUS PLEUROPNEUMONIA. 3. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF HEMOPHILUS PLEUROPNEUMONIAE TO OTHER SPECIES OF HEMOPHILUS: NUTRITIONAL, METABOLIC, TRANSFORMATION, AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPY STUDIES

Hemophilus pleuropneumoniae, the causative agent of porcine contagious pleuropneumonia (PCP) is an encapsulated organism that has the metabolic features of the parainfluenza group of Hemophilus in that it requires DPN but not hemin for growth. Its formation of nitrate reductase cytochrome a₁ and non-physiologically reducible cytochrome c₁ in the stationary phase, together with its requirement of electron transport through oxidases for growth are typical of non-hemin-requiring Hemophilus species. It has the closest genetic homology, judged from the capacity of its DNA to induce transformation to streptomycin resistance, with H. parasuis but can be differentiated from this organism on the basis of its growth in defined medium and its marked and characteristic pathogenicity for swine.