The metabolism of pyruvic acid of the bacteria has been frequently studied, but that of the tubercle bacillus has not yet been investigated.
We, using the washed suspension of the avian tubercle bacillus as the enzyme system for pyruvate oxidation, estimated the oxidation of pyruvate, measuring the oxygen uptake in Warburg's manometric method under aerobic condition, and the 'decomposition of pyruvate was estimated by Clift and Cook's method.