1887

Abstract

Glutamate is a major source of energy for species but its mode of catabolism has not hitherto been elucidated. Cell suspensions of and , as representative species from the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract, respectively, both decarboxylated position-labelled glutamate but by different pathways. CO was released only from C-5 by whereas decarboxylated glutamate at either C-1 or C-5. In both species, 2 mols of glutamate fermented yielded 2 mols of acetate and 1 mol of butyrate, suggesting the possibility of three metabolic pathways: the 2-oxoglutarate, mesaconate and 4-aminobutyrate pathways. Enzymes representative of the three pathways were assayed for in cell-free extracts of fusobacteria. All species tested possessed high levels of both glutamate dehydrogenase and 2-oxoglutarate reductase, indicating the presence of the 2-oxoglutarate pathway. Enzymes representative of the mesaconate pathway were detected in , , and , while the latter two species also possessed the 4-aminobutyrate pathway. The pathways of glutamate catabolism therefore bore no relationship to the site of isolation of the fusobacteria tested but instead correlated with their chemotaxonomic properties. Thus, , , and , which possess a peptidoglycan structure based on diaminopimelic acid, have either two or three pathways for glutamate catabolism whereas and other species that have a lanthionine-based murein metabolized glutamate solely by the 2-oxoglutarate pathway.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-137-5-1201
1991-05-01
2024-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/137/5/mic-137-5-1201.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-137-5-1201&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Barker H. A. 1981; Āmino acid degradation by anaerobic bacteria. Annual Reviews of Biochemistry 50:23–40
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Barker H. A., Smyth R. D., Wawszkiewicz E. J., Lee M. N., Wilson R. M. 1958; Enzymatic preparation and characterisation of an β-methyl aspartic acid. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 78:468–476
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Buckel W., Barker H. A. 1974; Two pathways of glutamate fermentation by anaerobic bacteria. Journal of Bacteriology 117:1248–1260
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Gharbia S. E., Shah H. N. 1988a; Characteristics of glutamate dehydrogenase, a new diagnostic marker for the genus Fusobacterium . Journal of General Microbiology 134:327–332
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Gharbia S. E., Shah H. N. 1988b; Glucose utilisation and growth response to protein hydrolysates by Fusobacterium species. Current Microbiology 17:229–234
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Gharbia S. E., Shah H. N. 1989; The uptake of amino acids from a chemically defined medium by Fusobacterium species. Current Microbiology 18:189–193
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Gharbia S. E., Shah H. N. 1990; Identification of Fusobacterium species by the electrophoretic migration of glutamate dehydrogenase and 2-oxoglutarate reductase in relation to their DNA base composition and peptidoglycan dibasic amino acids. Journal of Medical Microbiology 33:183–188
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Gharbia S. E., Shah H. N., Welsh S. 1989; The influence of peptides on the uptake of amino acids in Fusobacterium; predicted interactions with Porphvromonas gingivalis . Current Microbiology 19:231–235
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Horler D. F., Westlake D. W. S., McConnel W. B. 1966; Conversion of glutamic acid to volatile acids by Micrococcus aerogenes . Canadian Journal of Microbiology 12:47–53
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Lerud R. R., Whitely H. 1971; Purification and properties of α-ketoglutarate reductase from Micrococcus aerogenes . Journal of Bacteriology 106:571–577
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Moore W. E., C, Holdeman L. V., Kelley W. 1984; Genus Fusobacterium Knorr 1922. Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, 9th.631–637 Krieg N. R., Holt. J. C. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins;
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Robrish S. A., Thompson J. 1988; Suppression of polyglucose degradation by amino acids in Fusobacterium nucleatum ATCC 10953. FEMS Microbiology Letters 55:29–34
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Robrish S. A., Oliver C., Thompson J. 1987; Amino acid dependent transport of sugars by Fusobacterium nucleatum ATCC 10953. Journal of Bacteriology 169:3891–3897
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Shah H. N., Gharbia S. E. 1989; Ecological events in subgingival dental plaque with reference to Bacteroides and Fusobacterium species. Infection 17:264–268
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Singer D. L., Kleinberg I. 1983; The free amino acids in human dental plaque. Archives of Oral Biology 28:873–878
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Shah H. N., Williams R. A. D., Bowen G. H., Hardie J. M. 1976; Comparison of the biochemical properties of Bacteroides melaninogenicus from human dental plaque and other sites. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 41:473–492
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Whitely H. 1957; Fermentation of amino acids by Micrococcus aerogenes . Journal of Bacteriology 74:324–330
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-137-5-1201
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-137-5-1201
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error