INHIBITION BY BIOTIN OF DESTHIOBIOTIN PRODUCTION IN BACILLUS CEREUS

Abstract

Bacillus cereus IAM 1299 has been found to produce large amounts of desthiobiotin in culture fluids (300-400mμg/ml nutrient broth); the production was, however, completely inhibited by the presence of excess biotin. Several lines of evidence are presented that the inhibition was due to repression and not to enzyme inhibition.
The addition of actithiazic acid, an antagonist of biotin, enhanced the production of desthiobiotin.
From the results presented here, the biosynthetic pathway from desthiobiotin to biotin is suggested to be narrow in this organism.