Abstract
The effect of biotin on glucose catabolism in a L-glutamic acid-producing bacterium, Brevibacterium ammoniagenes, was studied by a modified radiorespirometric method. The amount of glucose metabolized by way of the hexose-monophosphate shunt (HMP) was estimated to be 26% in biotin-deficient cells and 38% in biotin-sufficient cells, respectively. In both cases, the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas Pathway (EMP) was found to be the major route for glucose catabolism. These results will exclude the present theory at least in our strain that the main route of glucose catabolism is HMP in biotin-deficient cells and EMP in biotin-sufficient ones, and that this is one of the main effect of biotin on L-glutamic acid fermentation.
