Abstract
The salt tolerance mechanism of Staphylococcus aureus was examined from a view point of energy metabolism in the cell membrane. Growth and oxygen consumption were reduced in rate and pyruvate kinase activity was enchanced in S. aureus in the presence of 1.8M NaCl in medium. The membrane fraction isolated from the cells grown in medium containing 1.8M NaCl, however, showed almost the same activity of NADH-, succinic-, lactate-oxidase, Mg-ATPase and ouabain-insensitive Na/K-ATPase as that from the cells grown in medium at normal salinity. There was little difference in the effects of inhibitors (Na2 HAsO4, KCN, and 2, 4-DNP) on the membrane between the cells grown in the two media of different salinity, Cytochrome contents and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis patterns were also alike. These results show that energy metabolism in the staphylococcal cell membrane was accomplished in the same manner at high salinity as at normal salinity.
