ON THE CHEMICAL PATHWAY OF α-KETOGLUTARIC ACID FERMENTATION BY KLUYVERA CITROPHILA NOV. SP.

Abstract

It was strongly suggested that a new bacterial species, Kluyvera citrophila nov. sp., which has been reported by Asai et al. as a strain producing a large amount of α-Ketoglutaric acid from glucose, formed this acid via gluconic acid, and perhaps 2-ketogluconic acid, pyruvic acid and the TCA cycle members in the terminal oxidation route, by the following experiments: (1) the Warburg manometric observation on oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide evolution with members of the TCA cycle by intact cells and cell-free extracts, (2) identification of α-Ketoglutaric acid from various substrates such as glucose, gluconic-, 2-ketogluconic-, pyruvic acids and the members of the TCA cycle, by intact cells, (3) detection of C¹⁴ incorporation to α-Ketoglutaric acid from C¹⁴O₂ and glucose or pyruvic acid, and (4) the experiment on the distribution of incorporated C¹⁴ in α-Ketoglutaric acid by the degradation method with potassium permanganate.